Free Republic

CARLYLE, Ill. -- When Jose Jeronimo Guardian showed up at a Spanish language traffic court this week, he didn't expect to be detained and face expulsion from a country he'd lived in for more than two decades. Guardian, 48, was scheduled to appear Monday in a courtroom where a county-provided translator would aid communication with about a dozen Spanish-speaking defendants who face charges from traffic infractions like his - two charges of driving under the influence of alcohol - to serious felony charges. Guardian never made it into the courtroom. Instead, an agent from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement questioned...

In the sanctuary state of Illinois, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) has attempted to impede federal immigration enforcement, an illegal alien is accused of killing a Republican elected official and his wife in Coles County. Police say that 34-year-old illegal alien Edwin Pacheco-Meza of Honduras was driving a van on Oct. 24 when he crossed the center lane and struck 71-year-old Michael Clayton and his wife, 66-year-old Gail Clayton — killing them instantly. Michael Clayton was a Republican elected official who served on the Coles County Board. “Mike and Gail were a team in every sense. Together, they lived their...

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Thursday that 146 illegal immigrant drivers have been arrested by authorities, including drivers of semi trucks. Illegal immigrant semi truck drivers have made headlines in recent months after causing crashes that have resulted in deaths on the nation’s highways. Noem said, "233 illegal aliens have been arrested and taken off our roads. Of those, 146 of them were drivers. That includes 46 semi-truck drivers and 82 of them that were either box trucks, buses, moving vans, vehicles such as that." The arrests came as part of a partnership with Indiana State...

In what later became a public example of the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office’s new immigration enforcement powers, the agency arrested a pair of undocumented truck drivers Tuesday, one operating with a license that was suspended because of a DUI after the driver reportedly bypassed a Wyoming Port of Entry. That driver originated from Venezuela and was going 17 mph over the speed limit while evading inspection, Laramie Sheriff Brian Kozak said in a Tuesday social media video discussing the arrest. That driver had no commercial driver’s license and was driving on a Colorado operating license, which was suspended due to...

"In Washington, D.C., the government shutdown is about to enter its fifth week. Negotiations remain at a standstill, the issue of healthcare funding for undocumented immigrants being one of the main sticking points between Democrats and Republicans. According to Washington Post reporter David Ovalle, it is a debate riddled with misleading claims. Ovalle joins the show." 17 min. video at link.

Several illegal Indian migrant workers who were recently deported from the US have recounted their ordeal to BBC Punjabi, describing humiliation, debt and shattered dreams. At least 54 men, who had entered the US through the "donkey route" - often used by traffickers to facilitate illegal crossings - landed in the country's capital Delhi on Sunday. Aged between 25 and 40 years, all of them are from the northern state of Haryana and have since returned home, police said. The Indian government has not commented on their deportation. But the action comes amid an intense crackdown on illegal immigrants under...

U.S. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, who appeared in federal court on Tuesday sporting his trademark dark green uniform and crew cut, seems likely to become a regular presence there. U.S. District Court judge Sara Ellis ordered Bovino, the Border Patrol sector chief overseeing the agency’s operations in Chicago and previously in Los Angeles, to appear in federal court each weekday at 6 p.m. to report on daily immigration operations. She also ordered that he turn over all agents’ use of force reports from Sept. 2 through Oct. 25, as well as the bodycam footage corresponding to those reports, by...

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson argued that the phrase “illegal alien” strips away the humanity of the person in question. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson issued a scathing rebuke of dehumanizing language at a news conference Friday after a question he was asked about the city’s spending on “illegal aliens.” Though Johnson was less than sincere when he suggested that “illegal aliens” are something you’d expect to find in a work of science fiction, he was correct to argue that such phrasing erases the humanity of the people in question.“We don’t have illegal aliens,” he said, before making the science-fiction remark. “The...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The imposing Shrine of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic church a short drive from the White House, was intended to be a sanctuary for worshippers. Now, its mostly immigrant congregation is steeped in fear. Church leaders say more than 40 members of their parish have been detained, deported or both since federal law enforcement stepped up their deployment in August. Many parishioners are too scared to leave home to attend Mass, buy food or seek medical care, as the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown targets their communities. Cardinal Robert McElroy, who leads the Archdiocese of Washington, said the...

Demonstrations unfolded across the Bay Area on Thursday as activists mobilized against President Donald Trump’s threats of a federal immigration “surge.” Although Trump called off the surge in San Francisco after talking to local tech and political leaders, the rest of the Bay Area was left on edge, and many took to the streets to peacefully voice their dissent. At 5 p.m., about 300 people marched from Oakland’s Fruitvale district toward the intersection of Dennison Street and Embarcadero at Coast Guard Island, where federal agents from Customs and Border Protection were reportedly stationed for an “operation.” At the intersection, protesters...

Dad ‘died of grief’ after daughter, 12, was raped and beheaded by migrant in France, her mom reveals The father of a 12-year-old girl “died of grief” after his daughter was kidnapped, raped, tortured and then beheaded in France by a sadistic Algerian migrant, the girl’s mother told a court. Lola Daviet’s body was found horrifically mutilated and partially decapitated in a suitcase after she was murdered in 2022 — in a case that shocked the nation and sparked protests over lax immigration enforcement. Dhabia Benkired, 27, a prostitute who overstayed her visa in France, was convicted of the killing.

Rents for single-family residential homes rose just 1.4% in August compared with the year before, according to analytics and data firm Cotality, down from a 2.3% annual gain in July. That’s also much less than the 3% average gain seen last year and is the smallest increase in 15 years. Rent growth weakened across all price points, continuing a trend that has persisted in the second half of this year. Rents had been strengthening in the first half of this year. There were, however, strong variations regionally. Chicago saw the highest annual rent growth at 4.7% in August, followed by...

The man suspected of being under the influence when he crashed his tractor-trailer into a crowd of vehicles on the 10 Freeway Tuesday afternoon has been identified as a 21-year-old resident of Yuba City. Authorities say Jashanpreet Singh was under the influence of drugs when his speeding truck crashed into several slow-moving vehicles caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic in the westbound lanes of the 10 Freeway. Bill Melugin, a correspondent for Fox News, reported Wednesday that Singh is an Indian immigrant who is in the country illegally. Singh, according to the California Highway Patrol, did not hit his brakes prior to...

PULSE POINTS❓WHAT HAPPENED: Over 515,000 illegal aliens have been deported since President Donald J. Trump returned to the White House in January, with the administration on track to break deportation records.👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Border Czar Tom Homan, and U.S. Immigration Enforcement (ICE) officials.📍WHEN & WHERE: Since January 20, across the United States.💬KEY QUOTE: “This is just the beginning,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, adding, “Our agency was vilified and barred from doing its job for the last four years.”🎯IMPACT: The administration has...

President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has slapped illegal aliens with nearly $10 billion in fines, aiming to pressure them into self-deporting rather than draining taxpayer resources through lengthy court battles and forced removals. According to DHS officials, more than 31,600 fine notices have been issued, totaling over $9.6 billion. The new information about the fines was revealed by DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, who spoke with Breitbart News. These penalties are designed to hit illegal aliens where it hurts, their wallets, while offering grace for those who choose voluntary departure. Through the CBP Home mobile app, individuals...

The White House on Monday released a list of criminal illegal immigrants who reportedly received Medicaid benefits while living in the United States. The post, shared on the administration’s official account, included mugshots of offenders and noted the crimes for which they were arrested, along with the label “Received Medicaid.” The new release follows weeks of partisan conflict over government funding. Earlier this month, on October 1, a government shutdown began after lawmakers failed to agree on a budget. The main point of contention was over healthcare funding and whether illegal immigrants should have access to taxpayer-funded programs. [White House...

Texas Secretary of State Jane Nelson on Tuesday announced her office has completed its review of the state's voter registration list against citizenship data in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ SAVE database. Nelson said she has identified over 2,000 potential noncitizens, who possibly voted illegally in recent state elections. The list of potential noncitizens have been turned over to local counties, who will conduct their own investigations into the eligibility of the identified voters. Those the state believes voted in a state election illegally will be referred to the Office of the Attorney General for prosecution. “Only eligible United...

CHICAGO (WLS) -- President Donald Trump's immigration operation "Midway Blitz" has been underway for several weeks, and the hospitality industry, especially restaurants in Latino wards, are feeling the impact. Gerardo Auza comes from a family of restaurant owners. The 42-year-old's dream was to open his own business. It came true eight months ago, when Auza opened El Mexico De Chicago in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood. The Mexican immigrant says online reviews have been great, but none of it matters if no one shows up. "For over a month, it takes like 70% to 80%. The customers didn't show up to...

President Donald Trump on Friday evening: "The Republican Party is not going to pay a trillion and a half dollars to illegal immigrants coming into our country, coming in for a lot of reasons, coming in from prisons, from jails, from all over the place, from Venezuela, many countries. We're not going to do that. So the shutdown continues. It's a Democrat shutdown. It's a Schumer shutdown because his career has failed and it's over."

A federal shutdown that was once expected to last a few days has now stretched into its third week with no resolution in sight. Millions of Americans are bracing for higher healthcare premiums, federal services are disrupted, markets are watching uneasily, and yet the two parties in Congress are behaving as if gridlock is a strategic advantage. For investors, this is no longer a background headline. It is a policy standoff that could reshape consumer spending, healthcare stocks, bond markets, and GDP projections heading into year-end. What makes this shutdown uniquely stubborn is not just ideological division. It is political...