Free Republic

Back in March we talked about the decision by the Library of Congress to stop using “offensive terms” like illegal alien to refer to, er… illegal aliens. Shortly thereafter, Republicans in Congress moved to attach language to the pending appropriations bill which would require the Library of Congress to stick to terminology as it exists in current federal law. But since it hasn’t passed yet, the Library is moving forward with the changes and keeping up the debate in the media. (New York Times) “There is no other way to put this: the library has bowed to the political pressure...

In 2009, when Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote her first opinion as a member of the high court, she used the term "undocumented immigrant" to refer to persons who are in the United States illegally. It is believed to have been the first such usage in the history of the court, where the term "illegal immigrant" had previously been used. In an interview for last week's NPR program Latino USA, Justice Sotomayor explained her decision. She told host Maria Hinojosa: "Illegal immigrant" has a sense, I think, in people's minds, that immigrants are all criminals and criminals in...

<p>A private college in Arizona is charging students a fee to fund a scholarship for illegal immigrants, a controversial move supporters say gives a hand to those who need it but anti-illegal immigration advocates call irresponsible.</p> <p>Prescott College is tacking a $30 annual fee onto its $28,000 annual tuition to establish an annual scholarship for “undocumented” students, as part of a policy first proposed by students and faculty from the undergraduate and Social Justice and Human Rights Master of Arts divisions. While students can opt out of paying the fee, if they do nothing it will be automatically imposed. Backers say it helps reverse what they call Arizona’s reputation as a “national example of discriminatory politics.”</p>

Ted Cruz said late Thursday that rival Marco Rubio would make a better president than Republican front-runner Donald Trump. "Marco is not my enemy, Marco and I are friends. Marco and I would both make a much better candidate and a much better president than would Donald," Cruz told CNN's Jake Tapper after Thursday's Republican debate. "I like Donald personally. He's a charming guy, although he can turn on you in an instant," Cruz continued.

Ted Cruz has coined a new term in the fight over immigration: "undocumented Democrats." Speaking in Las Vegas on Thursday, the Texas senator and GOP presidential candidate portrayed the idea of a path to citizenship as a ploy to beef up Democratic voter rolls."Proponents of the Gang of Eight were being hypocrites. They were not telling the truth," he said. "What they claimed they were interested in was not in fact what they were interested in. What they were interested in, what Chuck Schumer and Barack Obama wanted, was very simple: They wanted millions of new Democratic voters. There's a...

The University of Maryland is sponsoring a poster campaign encouraging students to refer to illegal immigrants as "undocumented citizens." The inaccurate term, first noted by Campus Reform, is promoted by the school's "Inclusive Language Campaign," which is throwing up posters around campus to encourage the use of friendlier language.

The University of Maryland is sponsoring a poster campaign encouraging students to refer to illegal immigrants as “undocumented citizens.”The inaccurate term, first noted by Campus Reform, is promoted by the school’s “Inclusive Language Campaign,” which is throwing up posters around campus to encourage the use of friendlier language.UMD’s Multicultural Involvement and Community Advocacy office, an official organ of the university, is running the campaign. The posters tell students that “words have power” and people should be cautious, lest they offend people with the terms they use.“Would you say [illegal alien] if you knew I am an undocumented citizen?” the poster asks passersby.Nicole Mehta, the...

U.S. Rep. Joaquín Castro (D-Texas) wants the federal government to drop the word “alien” from laws and documents because “when you use the word ‘alien’, you think of Martians and people from outer space.” Castro introduced the The Correcting Hurtful and Alienating Names in Government Expression (CHANGE) Act last week. The measure removes the term “illegal alien” and replaces it with “undocumented foreign national” in federal law and government documents. …

Republicans thought they had learned a lesson after 2012: Turning off Latino voters ensures defeat in the general election. But as the disruptive presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump continues to gain support, his hard line on immigration has driven rivals to match his biting anti-immigrant language and positions long considered extreme. It risks another general election cycle in which Hispanics view the party as unfriendly no matter who the nominee is, Republican strategists warned. This week, several of Mr. Trump’s Republican rivals, including Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, echoed his call to end automatic citizenship for the American-born children...

On trips to Panama, I love staying at the Trump hotel. The service is excellent, the rooms are plush (with a bathtub in the center of the bedroom), the ocean view is breathtaking, the espresso machine is incomparable and Trump Jr.’s looped television message tells me I am a VIP. Not bad for around $150 per night. I think the order in which I began receiving phone calls about Donald Trump’s attacks on immigrants is revealing. Friends from Central America were the first to call, asking if I had heard the insulting comments from the owner of the hotel I...

Things were going swimmingly, that is, until Donald Trump became mildly critical of Marco Rubio– at which point, Rubio loyalist Mark Levin suddenly [air quote] hit a hard break [air quote]… Levin: I have to tell you something…the callers, they’re very excited about your campaign. On Free Trade… Levin: I agree with you, actually. (SNIP) But then Trump crossed the line by mildly criticizing Marco Rubio… Trump: Rubio, weak on immigration– very weak on immigration, although he tried to come back. But, you know, uh, we know where he stands. He’s very, very weak. You know, he did the immigration...

“We won’t let any foreign boats come in,” Tan Kok Kwee, first admiral of Malaysia’s maritime enforcement agency, said Tuesday. Unless they’re unseaworthy and sinking, he said, the navy will provide “provisions and send them away.” Hours earlier, Indonesia pushed back a boat packed with hundreds of Rohingya and Bangladeshis, saying they were given food, water and directions to Malaysia — their original destination.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared Wednesday that 11 million immigrants in the country illegally should have an opportunity to stay, wading yet again into his party's contentious immigrant debate. In tone and substance, Bush stands out among the many Republicans lining up for the GOP's next presidential primary, where conservatives who oppose an immigration overhaul often hold outsized influence. As he moves toward a presidential campaign, the brother and son of former presidents has not backed away from his defense of immigrants in the country illegally and a policy that would allow them to attain legal status under certain...

Rep. Steve King thinks that if Hillary Clinton decides to run for president, her “fingernails on the chalkboard” voice will make her vulnerable in the Iowa caucuses.

U.S. immigration authorities said Monday they have arrested more than 2,000 undocumented immigrants with prior criminal convictions, including 18 in Sacramento and Yolo counties.

You’ve probably heard the news already regarding the corrupt anti-gun government funding bill which passed late last night. In the end, even liberal Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) balked about supporting the bill, known as the Cromnibus. But Boehner was aided by Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who worked the phone tirelessly Thursday, giddy at the prospect that Boehner would agree to fund Obama's illegal executive actions on gun control, immigration and the anti-gun ObamaCare. In the end, the Boehner-Obama-Biden team was able to pass the giant $1.1 trillion anti-gun bill by a vote of 219-206. And 162 House Republicans who...

If I understood the President correctly the 4.4 million immigrants who just got their “get out of jail card” are no longer considered illegal. They are simply called the UNDOCUMENTED. The President, as usual, referenced a young woman who had been in the US illegally, I mean UNDOCUMENTED, since she was 4 years old. Apparently Mom and Dad were also illegal - oops - UNDOCUMENTED. She is now a college student working on her 3rd degree. A very admirable story. She beat the system and now can come out of the shadows. She will not be able to vote, for now, nor...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Marco Antonio Quiroga was brought to New York from Peru at the age of three by his mother, who was fleeing an abusive husband. In Queens, Quiroga’s mother taught him to live in the shadows. She taught him that revealing his status as an undocumented migrant would put the whole family in jeopardy. So when Quiroga realized he was gay, he was already practiced in keeping secrets. “That was a big struggle for me,” he says. “I had to hide myself from society and I also had to hide the fact that I was gay because I could lose the...

Looks like these boys are going to need a double amnesty. But I’m sure Obama can deliver. Two teenage asylum seekers from Guatemala escaped a detention center in Illinois and carjacked a 91-year-old Navy veteran.The minors, age 16 and 17, were able to walk away unchallenged from Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, Illinois, outside Chicago, on Wednesday morning and carjack two victims before they were arrested more than 225 miles away outside Iowa City, Iowa, according to authorities.Police say they targeted an elderly man in Moline, Illinois, who was picking up his prescription at Walmart. They threatened him with violence,...

Barack Obama's Defense Department on Thursday announced its plan to recruit illegal aliens, who they admit are undocumented, to join the United States Armed Forces, according to a statement released by the Pentagon. Critics are unhappy with this latest announcement, with some claiming the American armed services will become more like the French Foreign Legion, which historically allow fugitives from justice and others to join up with no required documentation. ... What are they trying to so in this administration? Turn our excellent military into a knock-off of the French Foreign Legion? Obama, who has never been anything more than...