Free Republic

There are about 200,000 Africans from countries hosting the deadly Ebola virus who hold temporary visas to visit the United States, greatly raising the stakes it could spread to America, according to a group following the immigration issue. “Based on State Department nonimmigrant visa issuance statistics, I estimate that there are about 5,000 people in Guinea, 5,000 people in Sierra Leone, and 3,500 people in Liberia who possess visas to come to the United States today,” said Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies. Add to that “more than 195,000 Nigerians” with visas to...

There are about 200,000 Africans from countries hosting the deadly Ebola virus who hold temporary visas to visit the United States, greatly raising the stakes it could spread to America, according to a group following the immigration issue. “Based on State Department nonimmigrant visa issuance statistics, I estimate that there are about 5,000 people in Guinea, 5,000 people in Sierra Leone, and 3,500 people in Liberia who possess visas to come to the United States today,” said Jessica M. Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies. Add to that “more than 195,000 Nigerians” with visas to...

Companies that have recently laid off workers are scheming to get President Barack Obama to give them more guest-worker visas by executive action. After the New York Times reported that Obama is working on crafting executive actions behind closed doors after having met with representatives from "Oracle, Cisco, Fwd.US, Microsoft, Accenture, Compete America, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce," which Politico detailed, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) blasted the White House for "actively working against the interests of the American worker." Sessions mentioned that American politics is at "a crisis point," as companies that "are laying off current employees in droves,"...

Whether you’re a skilled technology worker or a poor laborer, it’s getting harder to become a U.S. citizen. But for those with $500,000 to buy their way in, it’s a different matter. That’s just the beginning of the problem. On Nov. 15, 2012, about 100 people gathered in a parking lot near O’Hare Airport in Chicago for a ceremonial occasion: the demolition of a fleabag motel to make way for what was intended to be a world-changing construction project. Next door to a Hooters restaurant, just off the Kennedy Expressway, was to rise a commercial and environmental wonder—the “World’s First...

Hi, Norm Matloff here. I’m a professor of computer science at the University of California, Davis, and formerly was a statistics professor at that university, but I also write about social issues. As the saying goes, “My life is an open book”–you can read the details of my background in my online bio. I’ve written op-eds for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Bloomberg View, CNN and so on. Bloomberg gathers together its op-eds grouped by author; click here to see mine, and thus get an idea of my interests and views. (SNIP) In this blog, my topics will...

Silverio Lopez and his son Antonio run their Tequila Cabresto brand out of their house in Southwest Detroit. They say about 60 restaurants in and around the city carry their brand of small batch, craft tequila. They also own a rim and tire shop just down the street. In total, they employ close to ten people. Silverio emigrated from Mexico in the early ‘80s. He says there were many reasons for settling down and starting a business in Detroit. “The properties were cheap, the rent was cheaper, plus we had family here already,” he said through Antonio, who translated from...

The House Committee on Oversight and Government reform has compiled a scathing report on the Department of Justice's “Operation Choke Point” program that critics believe is aimed at “targeting industries deemed objectionable” by the Obama administration. The report, released Thursday by panel chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., accuses the Justice Department of abusing its authority by going after the payday lending industry and other merchants and working to put them out of business. According to the report, the Justice Department “secretly” discouraged banks from conducting business with groups deemed to be “high risk,” for triggering a federal investigation. Sign Up for...

The State Duma on Friday passed a law tightening requirements on embattled foreign payment systems Visa and MasterCard and giving them new competition in the form of a national payment system. The law passed on Friday will require payment systems to ensure uninterrupted service, and obliges them to pay a security deposit to the Central Bank equivalent to the value of two days of transactions processed in Russia. Visa and MasterCard together will together be obliged to relinquish about $3.8 billion to the Central Bank. Operators will also have to immediately inform the Central Bank about any stoppages of service...

Sagar Chikane receives visa with 'Emigration Check Required' as part of his name after new Indian passport confuses typist‘Sagar Ramachandra Emigration Check Required Chikane’ – is a very long name for anyone to have. Even if the man in question hails from the South of India where a person’s name includes his father’s name and the family name, apart from his own moniker. However, for this welder from Tamil Nadu in India, who still has to travel to the UAE - before June 2014 - according to his visa, his emigration status has been ‘officially’ incorporated into his name. Not...

The federal government has lost track of tens of thousands of foreign students who came to the U.S. to study and then took jobs, often in violation of the terms of their visas, according to a new internal audit. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement doesn’t even consistently collect information or have the tools to monitor all of the foreign students who take part in the optional practical training (OPT) program, the Government Accountability Office said in a new report released late Friday. “The problems with OPT are extensive and serious. The report not only calls into question the department’s oversight...

**SNIP** The disgraced Illinois ex-congressman denied charges he was found with nude pictures and videos of women and men having sexual intercourse on his mobile phone. The count was an alleged violation of Zimbabwe's Censorship and Entertainments Control Act, according to Gurira, and carried a maximum penalty of one year in prison and a fine. Pornography is banned in Zimbabwe. Harare magistrate Tendai Mahwe agreed with Reynolds’ lawyer that state prosecutors had not sought written authority from the prosecutor general for the pornography charge. “This makes the actions of the state null and void,” Gurira said. Earlier on Friday, Reynolds...

A conservative-leaning watchdog group has filed an ethics complaint against Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, accusing him of violating the chamber’s code of conduct by pushing to help a politically connected Las Vegas casino project get visas for foreign investors. The complaint, filed with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics by Cause of Action, is based in part on a Washington Times investigation last year. That investigation found that after pressure from Mr. Reid and his staff, the Obama administration overruled career Homeland Security officials and expedited visa applications for about two dozen foreign investors for the casino.... ...The American...

China’s legendary ghost cities are coming to the USA! Here is an excellent video on China’s ghost cities. China is known for building replicas of London and Paris in China to attract people. But like many of China’s efforts at planned cities, housing is quite expensive and has not caught on. And there is even a fake Epcot in China! Unfortunately, quite empty. ghost_arcade Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA-D) campaigned on centrally planned construction as a solution for the economy. Perhaps the Chinese are taking her advice. With the growing presence of Chinese in the U.S housing market, particularly on the...

Hyatt Gun Shop states that a subsidiary of Visa shut down payments for its customers' online gun purchases, effectively cutting ties with "the nation's largest gun store," Hyatt claims, because of legal online gun sales. Hyatt Gun Shop is located in Charlotte, NC, and owner Larry Hyatt says Authorize.net—described on its website as "a solution of Cybersource, a wholly owned subsidiary of Visa"—sent him an email saying they were ending their business relationship with his store over "the sale of firearms or any similar product." According to the Washington Examiner, the email said "that gun sales violated a section of...

Liberals may not be able to pass a law through Congress that takes away our Second Amendment rights, but that just means they’re going to approach gun control from a different direction. A subsidiary of Visa, a key Obama campaign donor, that specializes in credit card transactions has abruptly stopped servicing the nation’s largest gun store after four years because the store sells guns, a fact the owners never hid. Hyatt Gun Shop of Charlotte, N.C., told Secrets that the subsidiary, Authorize.net/CyberSource, simply sent an email to owner Larry Hyatt to announce that it was suddenly breaking off the business...

WASHINGTON — Time is running out on programs to secure visas for Iraqis and Afghans who put their lives on the line to help U.S. forces. Rep. Earl Blumenaeur (D-Ore.), a key proponent of the special immigrant visas, noted on the House floor today that the programs, which expire in four days, have devolved into a bureaucratic mess that leaves many who have risked their lives to serve Americans in the lurch just when they may need the U.S. most. “There is overwhelming bipartisan support, led in the most articulate and forceful way by new members in both parties like...

Dow Jones Industrial Average has planned adding Goldman Sachs, Visa and Nike. The index will also remove Hewlett-Packard, Bank of America and Alcoa. Investment bank Goldman Sachs would benefit from the addition to the stock index. The changes will be implemented from September 23. Dow Jones includes 30 stocks and gives an indication of the better performing companies in the stock market. The three companies to be removed from the index were trading low on the stock markets. The stocks have underperformed the market. Goldman Sachs stock was up by 2.3 percent in premarket trading. Visa and Nike both were...

An embassy employee in Georgetown, Guyana has been implicated in a visa selling scam that included receiving sexual favors in exchange for the travel document. Daily Caller: The State Department acknowledged last week that one of its officials is the target of a probe over "allegations of improprieties relating to a Consular Officer formerly assigned to Georgetown, Guyana" without providing further details. Local media are also claiming the official, who was recently withdrawn from normal duties pending completion of an official investigation, associated with drug lords as part of his visa scam. The scandal began when executives and tourists complained...

Published April 29, 2013 FoxNews.com WASHINGTON – SNIPPET: "On multiple occasions, first after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and again after 9/11, Congress mandated that immigration officials come up with a verifiable entry-exit system to track foreign visitors. To date, the Department of Homeland Security has failed, despite spending billions in tax dollars. The current system, known as USVISIT, does take fingerprints and photos of international visitors when they arrive at U.S. airports, but it has no similar biometric exit system. The goal is to match entry and exit records to determine which individuals comply with their visa and...

"Seven smuggled forged 'eye scan pass' seals into UAE Seven Uzbeks, including a woman, brought 60 seals through Abu Dhabi and Sharjah airports" SNIPPET: "Seven Uzbeks, including a woman, allegedly smuggled 60 forged eye scan seals into the UAE through Abu Dhabi and Sharjah airports and used them, the Dubai Criminal Court heard."

 SNIPPET: "We also confiscated in his car some forged stamps. He confessed to getting the stamps from MJA who in turn had got them from MYY,” he testified. 

Searching his two flats in Al Nahda area, police confiscated ten other eye scan pass seals in addition to...