Free Republic

It's too soon to crown anyone Arizona's next Senator -- but on the same day Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) announced his intent to run, a new poll of Grand Canyon state Republicans shows Sheriff Joe Arpaio leading the field to replace the retiring Sen. Jon Kyl (R). Arpaio has not announced his intention to run for the open Senate seat next year, though there's long been speculation that Arpaio -- an absolute rockstar among the anti-immigration set in the GOP -- is interested in higher office. His name has been mentioned among those that might run for Kyl's old seat,...

A study of an Arizona-style immigration policy in Prince William County, Va., found that it reduced the number of illegal immigrants in the county, but that its effect on violent crime was inconclusive. The study was conducted by the University of Virginia and the Police Executive Research Forum...at the request of the county. It looked at data from 2007, when the policy was proposed, through 2009. Prince William County began enforcing the tough immigration law, similar to one that was passed later in Arizona and is now facing legal challenges, in 2008. The county’s law required police officers to check...

A federal audit gave favorable grades to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his treatment of inmates, amid a Justice Department probe into possible discrimination by the Arizona lawman against Hispanic inmates. Mr. Arpaio's lawyer said the audit grades from the U.S. Marshals Service show the sheriff runs a clean operation and underscore his contention that the probe is politically motivated. The Justice Department said in a statement that its investigation "pertains to allegations of discrimination in jails and police practices that are not covered by the Marshals Service review." Mr. Arpaio has gained a national reputation as an anti-illegal...

JEFFERSON CITY | The number of illegal immigrants arrested by Missouri troopers has fallen significantly in the three years since the state began checking the residency status of everyone booked into jail. The Missouri State Highway Patrol turned up an average of one illegal immigrant per day during the initial months after former Republican Gov. Matt Blunt in August 2007 ordered it to check the immigration status of everyone it incarcerated, according to records obtained under the state Sunshine Law. But the number of illegal immigrants found by those checks declined more than 40 percent in 2008 and an additional...

On Friday, a letter written by Prince William County Police Chief Charlie Deane to Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security John Morton, was released to the public. Chief Deane asked the DHS to stop issuing employment authorization cards to illegal aliens who have deportation proceedings pending against them. In the letter, Chief Deane detailed a recent DUI crash in his county which killed Benedictine nun Sister Denise Mosier. The fatal accident was caused by Carlos Martinelly Montano, 23, an illegal alien from Bolivia who was handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a previous arrest, but was freed while awaiting...

HOUSTON – Would an immigration reform law like Arizona’s work in Texas? That was the topic of discussion Thursday when some HPD officers met with police officials from Phoenix. Mark Spencer, president of the police union in Phoenix, where officers are already allowed to call immigration officials, said crime has dropped. "It’s not based upon race. It’s based upon conduct," Spencer said. "The clear connection between those statistics is the crime of illegal immigration. We needed to be proactive [and use] common sense." "We’ve got to secure our borders. We’ve got to do what is necessary to make sure that...

Virginia GOP Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is working toward granting his state’s police officers powers similar to those that Arizona's law allows to check immigration status. Cuccinelli told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren recently that he’d like Virginia police to be allowed to check the citizenship of anyone they stop or arrest, but that unlike Arizona, he would not require police to do so. “We are not mandating to our law enforcement that they make these inquiries on every stop,” Cucinnelli said. Still, Cuccinelli is pushing his state toward instituting a similar law to the one a federal judge blocked...

DENVER – The federal government is rapidly expanding a program to identify illegal immigrants using fingerprints from arrests, drawing opposition from local authorities and advocates who argue the initiative amounts to an excessive dragnet. The program has gotten less attention than Arizona's new immigration law, but it may end up having a bigger impact because of its potential to round up and deport so many immigrants nationwide.

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Nicaraguan mother Lorena Aguilar hawks a television set and a few clothes on the baking sidewalk outside her west Phoenix apartment block. A few paces up the street, her undocumented Mexican neighbour Wendi Villasenor touts a kitchen table, some chairs and a few dishes as her family scrambles to get out of Arizona ahead of a looming crackdown on illegal immigrants."Everyone is selling up the little they have and leaving," said Villasenor, 31, who is headed for Pennsylvania. "We have no alternative. They have us cornered."The two women are among scores of illegal immigrant families across Phoenix...

PHOENIX - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has opened a new section of Tent City in time for its 17th anniversary. The new section is called Section 1070 to house violators of the new illegal immigration law, SB 1070. Section 1070 is able to hold up to 100 inmates, but reportedly has room to grow if needed. Sheriff Arpaio said he wants to assure citizens of Maricopa County that there will always be room for violators of the new law.

July 16 – The City of Fremont is preparing to implement the local illegal immigration ordinance passed last month. New forms to obtain a renter’s license and for employer business licensing will be available starting July 27, 2010 in the City Clerk’s Office, Fremont Police Department, and on the City of Fremont website at www.fremontne.gov.The City plans to offer three orientation sessions and will have city representatives available for questions and answers July 27th and July 28th. Q&A sessions have been scheduled in City Council Chambers on the 2nd Floor of the Municipal Building, 400 E Military Ave.Tuesday, July 27...

WASHINGTON (July 15, 2010) – “Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border 2: Drugs, Guns, and 850 Illegal Aliens” is the Center for Immigration Studies' second web-based film on the impact of illegal alien activity in Arizona. The Center's first video on the subject, “Hidden Cameras on the Arizona Border: Coyotes, Bears, and Trails,” has received over 52,000 views to date. This new 10-minute mini-documentary raises the bar, featuring footage of both illegal-alien entry as well as gun- and drug-smuggling. At minimum, the inescapable conclusion is that hidden cameras reveal a reality that illegal-alien activity is escalating. The hidden camera footage,...

NBC's Lee Cowan, on Thursday's NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, discovered a stunning result of Arizona's new immigration policies - illegal immigrants are now leaving the state. Cowan opened his piece noting a long line now "stretches around the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix every day" but noticed a twist, as the line was full of "immigrants trying to figure out not how to stay in Arizona, but how to flee it."

President Obama told a U.S. senator he will refuse to do his duty and enforce America’s immigration laws unless Congress cuts a deal with him to allow amnesty for illegal aliens. The president told Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) that he will not make efforts to secure America’s porous borders until such time as Congress passes an amnesty for the estimated 12 million illegal aliens in the country, Connie Hair of Human Events reports. Kyl said Obama pointed out to him in a private meeting that Democrats would lose their leverage for an amnesty if the government stepped up security at...

PHOENIX (AP) -- The North American Aerospace Defense Command says two F-16 fighter planes intercepted an ultralight aircraft near the U.S.-Mexico border in southwestern Arizona. The plane crossed from Mexico into Arizona just after 6 a.m. Sunday. NORAD dispatched two F-16s from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson and they shadowed the ultralight for about 30 minutes until it flew back into Mexico.

I had hardly received word from the editor that my first report from south east Arizona would be published before more excitement occurred here -- this time even closer to home. Saturday morning the headlines in all the area papers covered the shooting of a Pinal County Deputy by drug smugglers.  The reports indicated the officer was ambushed by drug smugglers using AK-47 rifles.  How do we know these things?  This time the ambush failed and the officer survived.  But there is a lot of news in this report that destroys the liberal reports of those grandmothers crossing the border...

Feathers began flying last Friday hours before Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the country’s strictest state law governing illegal immigration, when President Obama called it unfair and promised to have the Justice Department examine it for possible civil rights violations. Criticism of the new law has been fierce. Much of the criticism is, I think, overblown. It is difficult to regard the law’s requirements as deeply unjust. The law begins with a statement of intent: “The intent of this act is to make attrition through enforcement the public policy of all state and local government agencies in Arizona. The provisions...

SACRAMENTO (CBS 5 / AP) ― Meg Whitman, the Republican front-runner in the California gubernatorial primary, said Tuesday that Arizona is taking the wrong approach to illegal immigration with its tough new law. The former eBay chief executive said there are more effective approaches than requiring law enforcement officers to question people about their status if they suspect they are in the country illegally. "I think there's just better ways to solve this problem," Whitman said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "I'm a big believer in, 'What are the two or three things that will make the...

Governor Jan Brewer was in tune with the voters and signed the first bill in the USA by any state to enforce the law and try to do something about the invasion of her state for foreign national law breaking aliens. Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce deserves the credit for crafting this bill and getting it through his state legislature. Last night CBS did it's usual politically correct take on these events, but did inject this very important item. Meet Steve Montenegro, himself an immigrant from El Salvador and now a member of the Arizona State Legislature. Here is a...

Bonus: Geraldo warns an Hispanic Congressman that he might get stopped in AZ for "walking while Hispanic".