Free Republic

More illegal Immigrants From India Crossing Border Napolitano: At some point this year, border-jumpers from subcontinent will account for about 1 in 3 non-Mexicans caught in Texas U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents patrol along the Rio Grande near Wednesday, on June 8, 2011 in Penitas, Texas. Between October 2009 and March 2011, U.S. Border Patrol detained at least 2,600 illegal immigrants from India, a dramatic spike. By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, WILL WEISSERT LOS FRESNOS, Texas — Police wearing berets and bulletproof vests broke down the door of a Guatemala City apartment in February hunting for illegal drugs. Instead, they found...

McALLEN — Officials located a man Thursday who had been on the lam for more than four months after escaping from a state correctional facility in Dilley, Texas. Octavio Lopez Ramos, 27, escaped in early April from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Briscoe Unit, located about 55 miles southwest of San Antonio and 80 miles from Laredo. He and another man were working in the facility’s furniture factory when they allegedly managed to cut through a perimeter fence and escape. The other man, Jose Bustos Diaz, 21, is still at large. Officials believe he may have made his way...

WASHINGTON — After several years of fighting the U.S.-Mexico border fence, a coalition of Texas elected officials is working with the Obama administration on ways to improve border ports and facilitate trade while fighting drug smuggling. The Texas Border Coalition's involvement with policymaking comes after a bitter tangle with the federal government over construction of the fence that Congress and the White House approved, but border business leaders and human rights groups opposed. “We've got to work together,” said Chad Foster, Eagle Pass mayor and the coalition's chairman. “But that is where the wheels came off the cart — when...

EDINBURG - The U.S. Border Patrol has seen its undocumented immigrant apprehensions jump in the past year, bucking a national downward trend, according to statistics released Wednesday. During the 2008 fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, 2007, agents apprehended 75,473 people in the Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector, an area that covers 17,000 square miles across southeast Texas, including Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties. The apprehensions across the region represent a 2.7-percent increase from the year before. Nationwide, Border Patrol apprehensions dropped 17 percent. Government officials view the drop in apprehensions as a sign that heightened border security...

Local advocates hope to recoup pay in problem plaguing nation Francisco Ramos worked a 40-hour week in June, framing houses in south Houston for promised wages of $320. But on payday, the 26-year-old carpenter got nothing. His contractor dropped him off later that evening empty-handed. A month later, he's still waiting for his wages — as are thousands of other immigrants across the U.S. and Houston. Wage theft is widespread among mostly illegal immigrant workers, especially those who are recruited on street corners and work in the shadows of the American labor force. And that work-related exploitation appears to be...

Hundreds of illegal immigrants have registered to vote in Bexar County in recent years and dozens of them have actually cast ballots, canceling out the votes of U.S. citizens, 1200 WOAI news will report Thursday morning. Figures obtained by 1200 WOAI news shows 303 illegals successfully registered to vote, and at least 41 cast ballots in various elections. Bexar County Elections Administrator Jackie Callanan confirmed the figures, but she says a new form of voter registration card, which requires people to swear they are citizens when they register, should help cut the problem, because people who vote illegally can be...

“Doing a Job American Politicians Refuse To Do.” www.texasbordervolunteers.org Thanks to John D. and others, the website is up and running. Pictures from our Oct 2006 watch can be viewed at the site along with many links, additional information on upcoming registrations and fees, upcoming mini ops and a DLW that will be set up in the near future. Mark your calendars for Nov. 30th – Dec 3rd for an upcoming mini TBV operation. New volunteers must have had a background check completed (or CHL) and vetted before attending. Traffic has indeed slowed down but with veteran border watch volunteers,...

George W. Bush entered the White House in 2001 hoping he would be remembered in history books as the education president who raised public school standards with his No Child Left Behind Act. It now looks like his legacy will be "No illegal immigrant left behind." The White House Web site is currently advertising, in both English and Spanish, Bush's congratulations (applaudo) to the U.S. Senate for passing what president called bipartisan (bipartidista) and comprehensive (integral) immigration reform (reforma). In fact, this Kennedy-McCain (aka Hagel-Martinez) bill might be the worst and the most expensive bill ever passed by the Senate,...

A group of US volunteers that has been patrolling the frontier with Mexico to stop illegal immigrants has started building a fence along the border. The Minutemen group plans to erect a combination of barbed wire, razor wire and steel barriers along a 10-mile (16km) stretch of privately-owned land. Hundreds of volunteers gathered in Arizona for an inauguration ceremony. The Minutemen are allowed to report illegal crossings to border police but have no right to arrest suspects. Human rights groups have accused the Minutemen of xenophobia towards illegal immigrants - but the group denies this. The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps...

Two Nicaraguans who went in search of "The American dream" were wounded when some of the wagons of the so-called "train of the death" (the railroad of the Chiapas-Mayab company used by illegals from Central America) derailed. One of the Nicaraguans lost a leg and the other one had a fracture. Jose Perez, of 38 years of age (from Nicaragua) had his left leg amputated, while Ariel Delgado, of 25 years of age (also Nicaraguan), and has a fracture in the right foot. A migrant of Honduran origin passed away and five more were seriously wounded with leg amputations, when...

12:03 AM PST on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 By DAVID HERMANN / The Press-Enterprise COACHELLA - Two undocumented immigrants were hijacked from one group of smugglers by another group of immigrant smugglers at a truck stop near Coachella on Monday, authorities said. "It's very common," said Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Jorge Pinon. "They learn about a group of illegal immigrants and take them for ransom." The location and condition of the undocumented immigrants remained unknown late Monday, Pinon said. Rodrigo Peña / The Press-Enterprise Deputies search a minivan that was reported stolen. They found the abandoned van about six miles...