Free Republic

California Gov. Jerry Brown's Christmas granted 143 pardons and 131 commutations for Christmas, including a handful of refugees and immigrants that he hopes to spare from deportation by scrubbing their criminal histories. Brown also responded to the clemency request of Kevin Cooper -- a death-row inmate convicted of killing four members of a Chino Hills, Calif., family at their home with a hatchet, knife and ice pick in 1983 after escaping from a nearby prison -- by ordering new DNA tests on four pieces of evidence including the hatchet handle and sheath. Brown stressed in the order that he takes...

The Trump administration has expanded the list of categories for which immigrants can be sent before immigration judges to start deportation procedures against them. Measures announced Thursday by the Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will tighten the Department of Homeland Security's controls on immigrants, affecting not only undocumented foreigners but legal immigrants who lose their immigration benefits or status. The change is tied to Notices to Appear, a document issued to non-citizens instructing them to appear in immigration court. The NTAs normally mark the start of deportation procedures. A USCIS announcement said its officials will issue NTAs for a broader...