Free Republic

Gaping holes in the K1 fiance visa interview process. Reckless bans on scrutinizing visa applicants' social media posts. Ignored alarms over marriage fraud. New details keep seeping out about all the "red flags" Obama's immigration officials missed in the case of the San Bernardino jihadists. Color me unshocked. The American public and Capitol Hill politicians should have been more vigilant about vetting Obama's vetters in the first place. What do you expect when you put crony know-nothings, political hacks and identity politics zealots in charge of our safety? In case you'd forgotten (or never paid attention), Obama campaign finance bundler...

Selecting San Francisco's former police chief to head the U.S. Border Patrol would encourage more illegal border crossings because she has a record of not enforcing federal immigration laws, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., argues. Heather Fong advocated San Francisco's "sanctuary city" policy of non-cooperation with federal immigration officials, Johnson said in a letter Monday to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner R. Gil Kerlikowske. "The selection of such a candidate would send a strong message-both in the U.S. and outside of the U.S.-that enforcing our immigration laws is not a priority of U.S. Customs and Border Protection," Johnson wrote.

San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong's decision to retire after nearly five stable but uninspired years on the job, comes just as Mayor Gavin Newsom is facing two tough political challenges with the city's powerful police officers union: budget cuts and the need for the union's backing for his 2010 gubernatorial bid. Faced with a staggering city budget deficit, Newsom has asked the Police Officers Association to give back the 6 percent raise he agreed to in the last contract - just as he is asking other unions for givebacks. So far, the police rank and file have said no...

After being assailed by the police officer whose satiric videos earned him and nearly two dozen others suspensions in 2005, San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong acknowledged that she has gone years without taking the target practice required for officers who carry guns. Department rules require all police officers who carry guns to pass shooting range tests every six months... The issue of Fong's proficiency with a gun was raised last week by Officer Andrew Cohen. He wrote to Police Commission President Theresa Sparks that the chief had gone five years without being certified, which he called "an egregious matter...

After being assailed by the police officer whose satiric videos earned him and nearly two dozen others suspensions in 2005, San Francisco Police Chief Heather Fong acknowledged that she has gone years without taking the target practice required for officers who carry guns. The head of the city's Police Commission said today that the panel was likely to take disciplinary action against Fong, which could range from a letter of reprimand to something more severe. Department rules require all police officers who carry guns to pass shooting range tests every six months. Fong said in a statement this week that...

Supervisor Bevan Dufty isn't the only ally of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom unhappy with how the Police Department is being run -- other supervisors went to the mayor with concerns in the days leading up to Tuesday's vote forcing police to put a set number of foot patrols on the streets. In addition to Dufty, who ripped into Chief Heather Fong in public at the board's meeting, Supervisors Sophie Maxwell and Fiona Ma have gone to Newsom's office to complain about policing in their districts. Dufty -- who has met privately with Fong twice -- said he had complained...

Police chief lifts suspensions -- disciplinary action still possible. All 24 San Francisco police officers suspended for their roles in a video production that city leaders called highly offensive have been reinstated, including the officer who produced the skits, officials said Thursday. Although the officers have returned to work, they still could face disciplinary action for the video scandal, said Police Chief Heather Fong. "It will be premature to speculate on what will happen," Fong said. "There is an active administrative investigation that continues in spite of the officers being returned to duty." Fong, who along with Mayor Gavin Newsom...

A funny thing happened over the weekend to the big "Cops Gone Wild" video scandal in San Francisco -- it started getting very quiet. Apparently, Mayor Gavin Newsom and his handlers realized that while the videos were bad, they didn't quite prove -- at least in the public's mind -- Newsom's charge that they were evidence of a "deep-seated" culture of sexism, racism and homophobia running through the department. By Sunday, the message was going out that Newsom -- having made his point and formed a "blue-ribbon" commission to look into the department's culture -- was now ready to get...

Eight San Francisco police officers -- suspended without pay as officials investigate their alleged role in a video scandal -- were given administrative hearings Monday that likely mean they can return to duty by week's end, authorities said. The eight Bayview Station officers apparently had either minor roles or no knowledge that their images would be spliced into the videos that were denounced last week as racist, sexist and homophobic by Police Chief Heather Fong and Mayor Gavin Newsom. At the center of the internal police investigation is officer Andrew Cohen, the producer of the 28-minute video, intended for the...

Transfer comes a week after Suhr pulled riot squad just before beat officer was hit.San Francisco police Deputy Chief Greg Suhr, who pulled the riot squad from the streets during an anarchist protest last week just before a beat officer suffered a fractured skull in a confrontation with demonstrators, was reassigned Thursday and is likely to be moved out of the department. Police Chief Heather Fong said she was transferring Suhr, a 24-year veteran officer, out of the 1,400-officer patrol bureau and recommending him for a job as chief of security for the city's Public Utilities Commission. The action capped...