Free Republic

U.S. District Judge James M. Munley, in a much anticipated 206 page decision with national implications, also ruled that the ordinance violated the nation's Supremacy Clause, which acknowledges federal law as the supreme law of the land. "Whatever frustrations ... the city of Hazleton may feel about the current state of federal immigration enforcement, the nature of the political system in the United States prohibits the city from enacting ordinances that disrupt a carefully drawn federal statutory scheme," Munley wrote. The ordinance, which would have imposed heavy fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that hire them,...

WASHINGTON – Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, the Mexican drug smuggler given immunity to return to the United States and testify against two Border Patrol agents, was involved in smuggling a second load of marijuana into the United States after he was given court protection, records have confirmed. Newly released transcripts of the trial for Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos have corroborated WND reports that the Mexican illegal alien was involved in the second drug case, this one involving a load of marijuana brought into the U.S. in October 2005. That followed his grant of immunity by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in return...

The Border Patrol agent with family ties to the Mexican drug smuggler in the case of two jailed border agents may have been involved in back-channel communications with Mexican drug cartels, investigative reports obtained by WND suggest, prompting calls for a special prosecutor to look into the charges. "We now know that DHS and prosecutor U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton found [smuggler Osbaldo] Aldrete-Davila because the mother-in-law of Border Patrol Agent Rene Sanchez talked with Aldrete-Davila's mother on the phone," Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Friends of the Border Patrol, told WND. "How many other conversations in Mexico did Border Patrol...

Border agents who testified against convicted co-workers will be fired Men who were at scene of shooting terminated for changing their stories by Sara A. Carter Two Border Patrol agents who testified against two co-workers convicted of shooting a drug smuggler will be fired for changing their stories about events surrounding the shooting, according to documents obtained by the Daily Bulletin. Sources inside the Border Patrol also say Oscar Juarez, a third agent who testified against Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, resigned from the agency last month shortly before he was to be fired. All three...

For Border Patrol Agents Joe Compean and Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos, February 7, 2005 was just another day of endless watching and waiting for illegal immigrants to cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. But catching illegals was a piece of cake compared to their battle against the drug cartels who are better-armed and whose foot soldiers outnumber them. Over the last ten years or so, agents have been involved in a growing number of gun battles with drug runners on this side of the border. To say the least, the bad guys are getting more brazen and trigger-happy. So far,...

Suspect in case against border guards given free pass on charges The judge in the high-profile case of two U.S. Border Patrol officers imprisoned after shooting and wounding a Mexican drug smuggler allegedly sealed key testimony and issued gag orders preventing the defendants, their families and trial participants from discussing the smuggler's involvement in a second drug bust – for which he again was granted immunity in order to testify against the agents. According to Andy Ramirez, chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, and reliable sources close to the case, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila was apprehended in an October 2005 drug...

A Texas deputy sheriff who fired shots at a fleeing vehicle after the driver tried to run him down faces 10 years in prison for injuring one of the passengers, a Mexican national being smuggled illegally into the United States. The U.S. attorney, who won lengthy prison terms last year for two U.S. Border Patrol agents in the shooting of a drug-smuggling suspect, also prosecuted Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Guillermo F. Hernandez, who is to be sentenced next month. The deputy's boss, Sheriff Donald G. Letsinger, said his officer -- who had been on the job for a year --...

HONOLULU -- Duane "Dog'' Chapman is waiting to hear whether a Mexican federal court will set him free or order his pending extradition and criminal case to proceed. The 53-year-old TV bounty hunter is charged under Mexican law with "deprivation of liberty'' for his June 2003 capture of fugitive convicted rapist Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir, in Puerto Vallarta. Sunday night, Chapman, his wife and his attorney appeared on CNN's "Larry King Live" program to plead his case. Chapman said that he was approached before the extradition by a lawyer in Mexico who arranged his release and was asked...

An Arizona rancher who has waged a five-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal aliens from crossing his property has been ordered by a civil jury to pay nearly $100,000 for a 2004 incident during which he confronted a family hunting on his land. Roger Barnett, 62, who began rounding up illegal aliens after he said they destroyed his property, killed calves and broke into his home, was ordered to pay Ronald Morales, his father, his two young daughters and their friend on claims of negligence, false imprisonment and emotional distress. ...

Sonny Bono, in the fight over Proposition 187 (the 1994 initiative that would have rescinded welfare benefits for illegal aliens) had the best line about the debate over illegal immigration. Many charges were tossed back and forth about the initiative and the motivation of its sponsors. The response of the future Congressman to those charges was always: “What is it about illegal that they don’t understand?” Exactly! Like many others, I watched television as the protestors waved their Mexican flags, then changed those flags to American flags, then yelled “Si Se Puede,” then yelled “Yes, We Can,” then demanded the...

What is happening to Free Republic Mr. Robinson? The Bush Haters and Republican Haters are getting louder and more daring by the hour. These phony conservatives who claim the Conservatism purity are savagely attacking President Bush and the GOP as bad as the worst liberals. The Bash Bush feast is becoming a part of every thread. Everywhere you see Bush is a traitor, Bush wants to sell our sovereignty to Mexico, Bush is a liberal, Bush has no spine, Bush is destroying our economy, Bush is puppet in Vincent Fox hand, Bush is this Bush is that, everything wrong in...

BEWARE FROBL’s!!! You are being sent this message because you have recently been stung by a FROBL. That would be a Free Republic Open Border Lobbyist. Do not be concerned! Their stingers are so tiny it’s laughable. Which is what makes them so darn pesty and contrary. They make a lot of noise, considering there are only about a dozen of them, and are really quite harmless, unless they are able to zap some unsuspecting victim who has wandered into “their territory”. Now “their territory seems to be, well, whatever they decide it is, usually any thread with people trying...