Free Republic

Barack Obama’s deal with the president of Mexico to allow Mexican trucks to carry their loads onto U.S. highways and roads is new evidence of his high-handed solo behavior that has become Standard Operating Procedure in the Administration. Here are ten reasons why Obama’s plan is dangerous and must be stopped by Congress and public protest. 1. Obama’s deal with President Felipe Calderon, announced on March 3, bypasses Congress, defies the wishes of the American people, and looks like the action of a Third World dictator who thinks representative government is a nuisance and can be ignored.

Arizona’s liberal governor, Janet Napolitano, declined an invitation for an interview on Sean Hannity’s radio program today. That led Hannity to remark that Napolitano “knows her days will be numbered if she doesn’t do something about the border invasion.” Later in today’s program, GOP governor candidate Don Goldwater did appear on the airwaves with Hannity. He said Napolitano obviously got the idea to declare four southern counties a disaster area from New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who had just done the same thing next door. If Napolitano is wise, Goldwater said, she will “wake up from her wonderland” and protect...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - With 6.6 million Californians uninsured and costs soaring, state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi called Wednesday for a series of reforms to save the health care system from what he called a "death spiral." Garamendi released a 73-page report entitled "Priced Out: Health Care in California" that, among other things, showed the average health insurance premium in the state increased 61 percent between 2000 and 2004. He said Californians are paying more for health insurance but getting less as employers offer fewer benefits or pass on a greater share of costs to workers. The increasing cost "is...

WASHINGTON A bill introduced today in the U-S Senate would give illegal immigrants up to five years to leave -- before they could return and be in a guest worker program.The sponsors are Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and John Cornyn of Texas.The bill faces a July 26th hearing before the Judiciary Committee.The plan would allow immigrant workers to enter the U-S for two years, followed by a one year break. They could repeat that pattern two more times.The legislation also increases penalties for employers of undocumented workers and authorizes ten-thousand new agents over five years to investigate employers hiring...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - All of the estimated 10 million to 12 million illegal aliens in the United States would have to leave the country under an immigration bill introduced on Tuesday by two conservative Republican senators. The bill by Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl and Texas Sen. John Cornyn is a tougher alternative to a rival bipartisan bill introduced two month ago that would allow some illegals to get jobs legally and eventually gain citizenship without leaving the country. The Kyl-Cornyn bill calls for the creation of a machine-readable, tamper-proof Social Security card that would be issued to every American in...

Illegal entrants crossing through the Tucson Sector this fiscal year are dying at a rate 14 times greater than they did seven years ago - when the U.S. Border Patrol started its concerted effort to save them. In 1998, the agency began the Border Safety Initiative, asking Mexican and Central American nationals not to cross the desert and putting in place its rescue teams in remote areas. At the end of the program's first year, the agency tallied 11 people dead in its Tucson Sector, about three for every 100,000 apprehensions made. Apprehension numbers this fiscal year are at about...

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has just let the cat out of the bag about what's really behind our trade agreements and security partnerships with the other North American countries. A 59-page CFR document spells out a five-year plan for the "establishment by 2010 of a North American economic and security community" with a common "outer security perimeter." "Community" means integrating the United States with the corruption, socialism, poverty and population of Mexico and Canada. "Common perimeter" means wide-open U.S. borders between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. "Community" is sometimes called "space" but the CFR goal is clear: "a...

July 12, 2005 — Matamoros officials have confirmed four cases of dengue fever and are investigating at least 35 suspected cases of the deadly virus in Brownsville’s sister city. The majority of the cases were reported north of Matamoros and away from the Brownsville area, according to Josue Ramirez, Brownsville health director. No cases of dengue have been reported here this year. Matamoros health officials could not be reached for comment Monday. Mexican news media reported that the city was spraying for mosquitoes in areas where the dengue cases are believed to have originated. Dengue fever is an acute viral...

CAFTA Central American Free Trade Agreement This is a 765 page document. If you would like to read it. Click hereCAFTA is not a simple trade agreement. CAFTA was negotiated behind our backs and it is based on a logic that favors profit over human rights and sustainability. CAFTA gives us three big winners: the three agribusiness firms that control 82% of the world grain trade. Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill profits increased for ADM from $110M to $301M and Cargill’s from $468M to $827M. But since 1984 the real price of food has remained constant while the price farmers...

For decades, the open sewer known as the New River has carried a toxic brew of pollutants across the U.S.-Mexico border, through Calexico and Brawley and on to the Salton Sea, polluting everything in its path. Despite a quarter century of promises on both sides of the border, the New River still stinks, still directly threatens the health of tens of thousands of Californians and still qualifies as perhaps the most polluted waterway in North America. In addition to the raw sewage dumped into the river in Mexicali, the New River's sludge contains heavy metals, pesticides and numerous disease-carrying pathogens,...

DISCLAIMER The July 27, 1990 Regulations, “Aliens and Nationality: Asylum and Withholding of Deportation Procedures,” mandated the creation of a new corps of Asylum Officers to provide an initial, nonadversarial adjudication of asylum claims. Asylum Officers use asylum law, interviews with asylum applicants, and relevant information on country conditions to determine the merits of individual claims for asylum. As specified in the Regulations (8 CFR 208.12), as amended, such information may be obtained from “the Department of State, the Office of International Affairs, other Service offices, or other credible sources, such as international organizations, private voluntary agencies, news organizations, or...

With an estimated 11 million or more illegal immigrants in the United States, it's clear that existing border policies have become a joke. They too often ignore the labor needs of the economy and, well, where do we begin about the lack of enforcement? The laws against illegal immigration and hiring undocumented workers are poorly enforced, when they are enforced at all. Past efforts to update U.S. immigration laws have taken years. The task is among the most ticklish and difficult facing Congress, with social and economic ramifications along with diplomatic and domestic security impacts. Some weeks ago, a serious...

Some western parts of the Rio Grande are nearly dry and U.S. officials blame it on Mexican farmers diverting water for irrigation. Water flow from Presidio to El Paso has nearly stopped, and water officials claim that a makeshift earthen dam about 50 miles upriver from Presidio is the cause. Ken Rakestraw, chief of water accounting with the International Boundary and Water Commission in El Paso, said that very little water is flowing on that segment of the river. "They (Mexican farmers) pushed dirt across the river near Candelaria and there is very little water coming down right now," he...

            MEXICO CITY -- Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns and Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Mexico Ernesto Luis Derbez Bautista today signed a partnership arrangement to improve access to USDA rural development programs for eligible Mexicans in the United States.             "USDA looks forward to continuing to work with Mexican authorities to enhance outreach to the Mexican community," said Johanns. "USDA administers 43 rural development programs designed to assist rural residents and communities increase their economic opportunities and improve their quality of life. Expanding access to these programs in underserved communities in need, especially the Hispanic community, is a priority for the Bush...

Consular Protection The Embassy and the network of Mexican consulates have initiated a new stage of understanding and cooperation with the areas within the Homeland Security Department that carry out the function of the extinct INS. Currently, the operation of the Internal Consultations Mechanisms is being revised. Through these Internal Consultations Mechanisms, the Mexican Consuls establish communication and cooperation with the authorities of the DHS in order to facilitate the enforcement of notification and consular access to Mexicans detained by these authorities. Deaths of undocumented migrants in the border The prevention of deaths in the border, and the safety of...

In today's Orwellian America, where all groups are equal, but some groups are more equal than others, four radical "Hispanic" organizations — League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (MEChA), and National Council of La Raza (La Raza) — champion discrimination against non-Hispanics in general and European-Americans in particular. In most cases funded by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations and in all cases abetted by the U.S. government, LULAC, MALDEF, MEChA, and La Raza are "politically correct" hate mongers. These four organizations, which form the core of...

What level of government (local, state, federal, multinational institution or none) should regulate the following: What trees you may cut on your home property; whether you may burn logs in your home fireplace; what identification you need to open a bank account in your local bank?

"If we went down to the Camelback Inn today in Phoenix and arrested everyone who’s working there illegally, the place would probably shut down," McCain was quoted as saying in The Hill, a nonpartisan newspaper covering politics in the nation’s capitol.

On May 12, Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Representatives Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) introduced companion guestworker amnesty bills, S. 1033 and H.R. 2330. The text of this legislation is not yet available, but here's what we've learned this legislation entails. Millions of currently resident illegal aliens would be permitted to buy guestworker status for a fee of $1,000. After the first three year term they could apply for three year extensions (for another $1000), and in the meantime, apply for green cards. After six years they would be eligible for permanent residency, which...

Congressman Tom Tancredo is abnormally blunt for a politician. He believes immigration law should be upheld and makes no apologies for his position. And just as the dreaded "vigilante" Minutemen - a group that had the unmitigated nerve to hassle a few hundred Mexicans intent on breaking U.S. law - Tancredo's very existence is traumatic to the enlightened of our city. Confused (and enthusiastically unenlightened), I can't understand why it's demagogic to ask a fundamental question: Why do we have borders if we're unwilling to control them? True, the vile murder of policeman Donnie Young by an "undocumented" worker -...