Free Republic

Good news for the U.S. and for thousands of asylum seekers who show up at the U.S. border. An immigration official has told the New Yorker that as the result of a deal between the U.S. and Guatemala, "asylum seekers from any country who either show up at U.S. ports of entry or are apprehended while crossing between ports of entry could be sent to seek asylum in Guatemala instead." The U.S. currently has a "remain in Mexico" policy, where the Mexican government agreed to keep several thousand migrants there, even granting work permits so that the asylum seekers could...

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) must have missed the memo that he's running for President of the United States. O'Rourke, for whatever reason, is campaigning in Mexico. Again, did he not know he's running for President of the United States and not President of Mexico?According to the Associated Press, O'Rourke plants to head to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to meet with so-called asylum seekers who must wait in Mexico while their application is processed. Ciudad Juarez sits right across the Rio Grande River from El Paso, O'Rourke's hometown. The goal of the trip, according to O'Rourke's campaign, is to meet with “individuals and families directly impacted...

President Trump called off a round of deportations slated to begin Sunday, saying he was delaying them for two weeks at the request of Democrats — though he said both sides need to use the time to strike a broader deal on stopping new illegal immigrants. The surprise move came just hours after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi requested the delay, calling the planned deportations too cruel. “At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the...

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MI) discussed the immigration crisis on PRI's "The World." During the interview, Omar attempted to blame the Trump administration for Border Patrol and ICE's drained resources, as if the White House wants to see the border crisis taking place. "We have to look at our immigration process through a humane lens and what this administration is doing really truly is inhumane and extremely unAmerican and it goes against our values," Omar said. "We're talking about people who are coming to our border, seeking asylum, and there's nothing illegal about seeking an asylum. We have an opportunity to...

The acting Homeland Security secretary gave lawmakers a glimpse Tuesday into just how many asylum seekers skip their hearings after being released into the United States -- telling a Senate panel that a recent program found 90 percent miss their court dates. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan how many asylum seekers coming across the southern border show up for their hearings. “It depends on demographic, the court, but we see too many cases where people are not showing up,” he said, telling Graham that DHS recently conducted a pilot program with family units....

Mexico aims to avoid tariffs with potential deal limiting migrants going north, allowing U.S. to deport Central American asylum seekers U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing the outlines of a deal that would dramatically increase Mexico’s immigration enforcement efforts and give the United States far more latitude to deport Central Americans seeking asylum, according to a U.S. official and a Mexican official who cautioned that the accord is not finalized and that President Trump might not accept it. Faced with Trump’s threat to impose escalating tariffs on Mexican goods beginning Monday, Mexican officials have pledged to deploy up to 6,000...

Right-wing populist attitudes have become “normal” in Germany’s mainstream, said authors of a new study presented by the left-wing Friedrich-Ebert Foundation in Berlin on Thursday. “The center is losing its footing and its democratic orientation,” researchers said. The foundation has released reports on right-wing extremism since 2002. The latest study, conducted by a group of researchers from Bielefeld University, shows that a record 54.1% of the respondents across Germany now hold a negative view of asylum-seekers. The numbers are higher now than they were ahead of the refugee crisis in 2014, when 44% of Germans expressed concerns about the group....

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to count self-identified illegal immigrants in the 2020 census. Cities worry adding the citizenship question could undercount 6.5 million people. Their argument, however, isn't just about political power but billions of dollars in federal funds states expect. The case underscores what experts say is a growing cost to taxpayers from the surge of Central American families and unaccompanied minors. "We're talking about billions of dollars in taxpayer benefits over the next few years," said Dan Stein, director of the right-leaning think tank, Federation for American Immigration Reform. "The payout for the taxpayer...

Attorney General William Barr said in a new ruling issued Tuesday that asylum seekers who are able to demonstrate a "credible fear" and are then sent to full deportation proceedings are not eligible to be released on bond. The ruling, which will go into effect in 90 days, states that a previous decision allowing for asylum seekers to be released on bond while their case is being heard by an immigration judge was incorrect. Only the Department of Homeland Security has the authority to release the asylum seekers, he wrote. “I conclude that such aliens remain ineligible for bond, whether...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Latest on a court ruling that would have prevented the Trump administration from returning asylum seekers to Mexico to await court hearings (all times local): 4:45 p.m. A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked a judge’s order that would have stopped the Trump administration from returning asylum seekers to Mexico. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay Friday. A three-judge panel set a Tuesday deadline for civil liberties groups to submit arguments why the order blocking the Trump administration should take effect. It set a Wednesday deadline for the government to...

A federal judge on Friday ordered the federal government to either quickly bring asylum seekers to a judge to argue for bail or else release the migrants outright, in a ruling that deals another blow to President Trump’s attempts to crack down on the border crisis. Judge Marsha J. Pechman, a Clinton appointee to the bench, said the government cannot hold the asylum-seekers in question for longer than seven days without giving them a chance at a bond hearing. And she ordered that the burden of proof will be on Homeland Security to make the case for why the migrants,...

Pushed beyond their limits by prolonged waits in dangerous and squalid conditions in parts of Northern Mexico, thousands of caravan members who had been waiting to seek asylum in the United States appear to have given up, Mexican officials said, dealing President Trump an apparent win after a humbling week for his immigration agenda. About 6,000 asylum seekers who had traveled en masse, many of them in defiance of Mr. Trump’s demands that they turn around, arrived in Northern Mexico in late November as part of a caravan that originated in Honduras. Since then, more than 1,000 have accepted an...

Conservative critics target Portland and its support of asylum seekers Portland's mayor and city councilors fire back after a Fox Broadcasting Co. talk show host says the city has itself to blame for a surge in immigrants who need shelter. BY RANDY BILLINGS STAFF WRITER Portland Press Herald Friday, February 1, 2019 Portland may be more than 2,000 miles from the southern U.S. border, but the city found itself in the middle of national immigration debate this week. Conservative commentators such as Fox Broadcasting Co.’s Laura Ingraham and Stuart Varney seized on a story published Jan. 27 by the Wall...

Is this another case of fake news or is the incoming left-wing populist government simply trying to play hardball with Señor Trump? Hours after the Washington Post reported that a supposed deal had been met to keep the Central American migrant caravan in Mexico as the United States sorts through asylum applications, Mexico's incoming foreign minister denied that any agreement had been reached and that conversations are still continuing. According to the BBC, "Marcelo Ebrard denied reaching an agreement which would see asylum seekers waiting in Mexico while their claims were processed in US courts." Likewise, the man who will serve in president-elect...

Lines snaked around the block outside immigration courts across the United States on Wednesday. But many people standing in them later learned they had no reason to be there. More than 100 immigrants showed up to court carrying paperwork ordering them to appear before a judge, only to find out that their court dates hadn't actually been scheduled, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).... ...Attorneys say the practice began after the US Supreme Court ruled in June that notices to appear -- the charging documents that immigration authorities issue to send someone to immigration court who's accused of...

Thousands of Central American caravan riders on Friday refused Mexico's offer of providing asylum status to those immigrants who applied and qualified. They vowed to continue their trek north to the United States around dawn on Saturday, NBC News reported. Under the plan, dubbed Estas en Tu Casa plan (translated to "This is Your Home"), asylum seekers would be given identifying documentation, jobs for adults and school for kids. The only catch was that they would have to stay in Mexico's two southernmost states of Chiapas and Oaxaca.The caravan riders to decided to turn down Mexico's offer, saying they've trekked too...

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen called on Congress to change laws she said force the government to separate immigrant children from parents who cross the U.S. border unlawfully and called Democrats who say the Trump administration is using the controversy for political leverage “very cowardly.” Nielsen both defended President Donald Trump’s family separation policy at a White House briefing on Monday and maintained that it wasn’t his creation, but rather a consequence of the government’s prosecution of immigrants apprehended illegally crossing the border. "So I want to be clear on a couple of other things," Nielsen said. "The vast majority,...

Despite the Democrat inspired laws on Sanctuary Cities and the Border being so bad and one sided, I have instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security not to let these large Caravans of people into our Country. It is a disgrace. We are the only Country in the World so naive! WALL 9:44 AM ·

More than nine in ten residents have voted against plans to plant 115 migrants in the small town of Lisdoonvarna, local media reports. The Irish government says there can be “no delay” in beginning to transfer the first batch of asylum seekers it intends to accommodate in a hotel in the town of just 300 people.

Canadians cannot count on the Conservative Party of Canada to do anything to secure Canada’s southern border Last week, the Canadian government released statistics on the number of illegal immigrants crossing into Canada from the United States at points other than official ports of entry. These numbers include only those who were intercepted by the RCMP while illegally entering the country. It has been estimated hundreds of illegals are walking into Canada every day. In June, the last month these statistics are available, 884 illegal border crossers were arrested coming into Canada. A whopping 781 of these “asylum seekers” crossed...