Free Republic

Robert Francis Prevost, who was selected as the Catholic Church’s first American pope Thursday and took the name Leo XIV, has a family history that some were celebrating as uniquely diverse, with one genealogist claiming he has ties to “free people of color” in New Orleans. Key Facts The maternal side of Pope Leo XIV’s family can be traced back to at least the 1840s among “free people of color” in New Orleans, according to Jari C. Honora, a genealogist with the Historic New Orleans Collection, a research center documenting the city’s history. Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., who represents New...

A man charged with child rape at a migrant shelter is appealing a change to his bail. As state and federal authorities clash over deportation matters in the Trump era, Massachusetts’ highest court will decide whether a state judge can increase the bail of someone facing deportation in an effort to keep them in the country to answer for criminal charges. This issue came before the Supreme Judicial Court for a hearing Wednesday through the case of Cory Alvarez, whose charges became a symbol of the safety issues at state-run emergency shelters last year after he was accused of raping...

April 29 (Reuters) - A Haitian woman died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in Florida last week, the agency said on Tuesday. The death of Marie Ange Blaise, 44, who was pronounced dead by medical professionals at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida, on Friday, is under investigation, according to ICE. The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here. ICE said it has notified the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other agencies of Blaise's death. It said it also provided email notification to...

A Haitian migrant charged with triple murder in Fayetteville, North Carolina, who killed several members of his family last week, had come to the US as part of former President Biden’s controversial migrant flights program ... Fayetteville Police Department said that 26-year-old Mackendy Darbouze has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing 77-year-old Beatrice Desir, as well as a 13-year-old and a 4-year-old. Police responded to a home at about 9 a.m. on Feb. 21 after receiving a report that a stabbing had occurred in a home. When officers arrived, they discovered three individuals suffering from...

The US Coast Guard cut off an “overloaded” boat packed with 132 Haitian migrants about 50 miles off the Florida coastline — and shipped them back home on Monday, officials said. The Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba intercepted the 30-foot sailboat last week between Cuba and Cay Sal Bank and off the shore of Marathon, Florida, returning them to the island nation on Monday.

An Ohio woman who ate a cat in a viral video that fueled rumors of Haitian migrants eating pets was sentenced to one year in prison on Monday, as a judge hit out at her for the gruesome act. Allexis Ferrell, 27, was arrested at a housing complex in Canton on August 16, when she was caught on police body camera footage crouching on all fours and biting into a cat. Police later determined that Ferrell had smashed the cat's head with her foot and then began to eat it, according to a police report obtained by the Canton Repository....

As Jacob Payen, a co-founder of the Haitian Community Alliance who runs a business that includes helping Haitians in Springfield to file tax returns, said: “People are fully aware of the election result, and that is why they are leaving; they are afraid of a mass deportation. “Several of my customers have left. One guy with his family went to New Jersey; others have gone to Boston. I know three families that have gone to Canada.” Some are thought to have moved to nearby cities such as Dayton, where they believe they would be less visible to law enforcement. Others...

The small town of Logansport, Indiana, has not been spared the disastrous effects of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s border crisis. Logansport is truly in the middle of “nowhere” in the rural midwestern state of Indiana, but despite being hours away from any major metropolis, the small town has still been targeted by the Biden regime. The small town of Logansport, Indiana, has not been spared the disastrous effects of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s border crisis. Logansport is truly in the middle of “nowhere” in the rural midwestern state of Indiana, but despite being hours away from any major...

First, Springfield, Ohio, then Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and now Logansport, Indiana—these small towns share one thing in common: Each has seen a massive influx of Haitian migrants that the Secretary of Homeland Security granted Temporary Protected Status. These migrants are dumped into towns with factories, replacing blue-collar native-born workers by the thousands in what we’ve dubbed the ‘Great Job Replacement.’

A small rural Indiana town is overwhelmed after an estimated 5,000 Haitian illegals came in thanks to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Thousands of illegal and paroled migrants from Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador and other 3rd world countries have been sent to Logansport, Indiana, a rural city of just 18,000 people. People from at least 28 countries speaking 27 languages now call Logansport home. There are 20-25 people living in homes. Hospitals are overwhelmed with record number of births and more than 20,000 ER visits per year. Students need translators and the hospitals say the illegal migrants can’t pay their...

The following is a report from Gateway Hispanic. The Chilean Congress has passed a law to protect the rights of domestic animals. It criminalizes the slaughter, distribution, and commercialization of the meat of pets and companion animals. The Chilean congressman José Carlos Meza authored the bill. This measure arises from reports about the consumption of dog and cat meat in certain foreign communities within the country, particularly the Haitian community, according to Deputy José Carlos Meza, the bill’s author. In Chile, it is documented that foreign communities, particularly Haitians, consume the meat of domestic animals and pets, such as cats....

President Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH), struck a major nerve with their comments earlier this month on the Haitian invasion of Springfield, Ohio. Now, one far-left non-profit group representing the Haitian community wants them prosecuted for exercising their First Amendment rights. New 5 Cleveland reported Tuesday that the leader of the nonprofit Haitian Bridge Alliance filed several bogus charges against Trump and Vance in Springfield’s Clark County Municipal Court, for sharing stories about Haitian migrants in the town allegedly eating pets and wildlife, according to the law firm representing the group. The Cleveland-based Chandra Law...

The GOP governor of Ohio and many pro-migration media outlets insist the federal government’s huge Haitian migration into the city of Springfield is legal. “They are there legally,” Gov. Mike DeWine wrote in a September 20, op-ed for the New York Times. “I am saddened by how they and others continue to repeat claims that lack evidence and disparage the legal migrants living in Springfield.” Springfield GOP Mayor “[Rob] Rue reminded me — and as Trump and Vance refuse to acknowledge — the Haitians who have come to Springfield are here legally,” Washington Post op-ed writer Eugene Robinson wrote on...

A Buckeye Reporter investigation has confirmed that Mayor Rob Rue of Springfield, Ohio, is renting out apartments in buildings that he owns to Haitian immigrants—a move that some local residents are calling a conflict of interest. -- snip -- A few blocks away from Little and Rue Funeral Home, also owned by Rue, a 37-year-old man who introduced himself as “Works” lives in an apartment on an estate worth an estimated $1.3 million. Works told Buckeye Reporter that he and other Haitian immigrants reside in properties owned by Rue. -- snip -- According to public records, Rue owns several rental...

A video from the Springfield City Commission meeting in March has resurfaced on Twitter, showing the Springfield, Ohio, City Manager Bryan Heck admitting that he had heard stories about Haitian immigrants to the town consuming "domesticated animals." A resident of Springfield spoke to at the meeting and the City Manager, who recently told ABC that this was absolutely not happening, said that he had also heard these reports. The resident said he understands that the "laws and culture" of Springfield are "180 degrees from what they're used to. And one of the things that I heard that bothered me very...

Charleroi, Pennsylvania, like Springfield, Ohio, is also experiencing a growing number of problems from a tidal wave of Haitian migrants flooding into their small town. While the media focuses on the woes of Springfield, Ohio, and its recent flood of Haitian migrants putting pressure on the small town, other small towns are experiencing similar problems. One of them is Charleroi, Pennsylvania, nestled on the banks of the Monongahela River south of Pittsburgh in the western part of the state. According to the activist group America-2100, the rural town has suffered a 2,000-percent increase in its population of Haitian migrants —...

Forget about the ducks and geese disappearing from public parks. In this beleaguered city, residents say the biggest problem, by far, is that wild-driving Haitian migrants — unfamiliar with US road laws — are turning the streets into combat zones. And the result can be deadly. The family of Springfield grandma Kathy Heaton experienced this firsthand on Dec. 1 — a day after her 71st birthday — when a Haitian migrant ran her down while she was collecting her garbage cans. And the driver got off scot-free. ... Kathy was struck so violently that both her socks were left behind...

SPRINGFIELD, OH — A Chinese food buffet was forced to close Monday after Haitian immigrants completely decimated the local Chinese food supply. "This business has been in my family for many years, said Duke Wong, owner of Happy China Yum Yum in Springfield, Ohio. "With 20,000 Haitian migrants roaming the town, all our delicious local ingredients have disappeared." According to sources, Happy China Yum Yum was the preferred source of delicious Chinese dishes such as orange "chicken," and Mongolian "beef" in the area. Over the last several years, however, their business model has become unsustainable. "I took my cooler down...

The Springfield Police Division said Monday morning they have received no reports related to pets being stolen and eaten. A social media post originally from a Springfield Facebook group went viral nationally in recent days. The original poster did not cite first-hand knowledge of an incident. Instead they claimed that their neighbor’s daughter’s friend had lost her cat and found it hanging from a branch at a Haitian neighbor’s home being carved up to be eaten. The poster also claimed “Rangers” and police told them that “they have been doing it” at Snyder Park, too, with ducks and geese. Springfield...

A shocking Facebook post from a local Springfield community group has sparked alarm after a resident shared a disturbing exchange with her neighbor regarding the safety of pets and local wildlife. The post, shared by a concerned resident, began with a stark warning: “Warning to all about our beloved pets & those around us!!!” The resident recounted a disturbing exchange with her neighbor, who revealed that her daughter’s friend had tragically lost her pet cat. The concerned pet owner had searched tirelessly, checking online lost pet pages, local animal shelters, and asking neighbors if they had seen her missing feline....