Free Republic

Under a plan coordinated by city officials, community leaders and the Mexican consul-general in Dallas, the statues of at least eight Mexican heroes would be on permanent display at Winnetka Park in West Dallas, the recreational center where the statue of former Mexican President Benito Juarez is displayed.

Days after dozens of protesters rallied at a day laborer site in neighboring Glendale, Burbank officials are preparing to celebrate the grand opening of a Home Depot and an adjacent hiring center. They are also preparing for protests. The City Council took the unusual step of requiring Home Depot to construct the hiring hall as a condition of building the store, sparking a contentious public debate with some accusing the council of catering to illegal immigrants. The store and the center are scheduled to open Thursday. Protesters plan to attend the council's meeting tonight, when the panel is expected to...

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press Writer The Associated Press SYDNEY, Australia Authorities seeking to prevent more racial unrest in Sydney were keeping a close watch on places of worship, as Prime Minister John Howard acknowledged Wednesday this week's riots may have harmed Australia's image abroad. Police were investigating whether an early morning fire at a Protestant church in Sydney was related to the rioting that gripped the city's beachside suburbs Sunday and Monday. Another church in the neighborhood, which has a large Middle Eastern population, had its windows smashed overnight. "Incidents like this don't play well around the world," Howard...

House conservatives today announced plans to amend a Republican-sponsored immigration reform bill with language calling for the construction of a 2,000-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and a provision that would deny citizenship to children born in the U.S. whose parents aren’t citizens. The legislation, sponsored by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R.-Wis.), is expected to be voted on by the full House as early as next week. Sensenbrenner has worked closely with the White House to craft the bill (H.R. 4437) -- the reason conservatives cited for the exclusion of key enforcement tools. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R.-Colo.) organized Thursday’s...

FRANCE: INTERIOR MINISTER AIMS FOR 25,000 EXPULSIONS IN 2006 Paris, 30 Nov. (AKI) - France's interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy has indicated he intends in 2006 to deport some 25,000 foreigners without proper papers, continuing a policy of increasing the number of such expulsions each year. Addressing the French Senate's commission on illegal immigration, Sarkozy also announced a tightening of rules governing asylum seekers. In 2006, temporary accommodation will no longer automatically be provided to asylum seekers if they turn down the accommodation offered them, Sarkozy announced. And if their application for asylum is rejected, the asylum-seeker will now have 15...

MANTES-LA-JOLIE, France - A warning whistle pierces the air, followed by a deafening roar. Two gray housing project towers come crashing down, replaced by a yellow dust cloud that blots out the horizon. Applause, whoops of excitement, and a hint of sadness is heard among the throngs of mainly North and West African residents who have gathered to witness the demolition in this town 30 miles west of Paris. Along with torched cars and Molotov cocktails, France's grim housing projects have come to symbolize the discontent that erupted in recent riots across depressed, mostly immigrant neighborhoods. The violence has awakened...

Illegal immigration is a complex national problem. It won’t be solved by piecemeal attacks such as that of GOP gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Kilgore in opposing a day laborer site in Herndon. Such tactics fuel anti-immigrant prejudices while skipping the hard part, acknowledging the broad tradeoffs and difficult compromises necessary for a permanent solution. If exploitation of nativist emotion isn’t Kilgore’s intention, then he should pull the plug on this line of campaigning. See the complete Pilot, exactly as in print - View stories, photos and ads - E-mail clippings - Print copies Log in or learn more Email this Page...

FARMINGVILLE, N.Y. (AP) - This middle-class Long Island community an hour from New York City and 2,000 miles from the Mexican border has become an unlikely flashpoint in the national debate over illegal immigration, with Hispanics beaten, harassed and evicted in recent weeks. For more than a decade, immigrants from Mexico or Central America have been drawn to Long Island by the prospect of jobs. Many stand on street corners in Farmingville, waiting for contractors, landscapers and others to offer them a day's work at about $10 an hour. Then at night they go back to their illegally overcrowded single-family...

Last night, Minutemen supporters gathered privately at the Women's Civic Club of Garden Grove (in O.C.) to hear a discussion lead by James Gilchrist, the founder of the Minutemen Project. About 300 protestors, charging that the Minutemen are a racist group, gathered outside to protest the meeting. When the Minutemen supporters tried to leave the event, at least two of their cars were attacked by dozens of protestors. The protestors hit the vehicles with placards and other objects until one of the drivers gunned his car to get away from the crowd. He was arrested, though I'm not sure what...

Victor Cruz, also known as Hugo Hernandez, also said in State Supreme Court in Kew Gardens that some of the men physically fought to be the first to rape the woman after they dragged her to a weeded area. < SNIP > Justice Randall Eng told the defendant he would sentence him on Jan. 15 to between 20 to 23 years in prison so long as he testifies against his co-defendants, if called upon by prosecutors to do so. Cruz said he, Luis Carmona, 22, Armando Juvenal, 21, and Jose Hernandez and Carlos Rodriguez, both 23, allegedly attacked a 38-year-old...