Free Republic

MINNEAPOLIS - Dozens of workers at Chipotle restaurants in the Twin Cities have been fired. An immigrant rights group said the employees lost their jobs after the feds starting searching for undocumented workers. Brad Sigal with the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee said around 50 workers lost their jobs after so-called “desktop raids” at several Chipotle restaurants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro.

While many communities are fearfully contemplating extensive cuts, Maywood says it is the first city in the nation in the current downturn to take an ax to everyone. The school crossing guards were let go. Parking enforcement was contracted out, City Hall workers dismissed, street maintenance workers made redundant. The public safety duties of the Police Department were handed over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. At first, people in this poor, long-troubled and heavily Hispanic city southeast of Los Angeles braced for anarchy. Senior citizens were afraid they would be assaulted as they walked down the street. Parents...

The two senators have agreed to attend a forum the evening of Aug. 16 at the Saddleback Church south of Los Angeles — the church is so large it has four locations — where each candidate will spend an hour answering questions from the pastor, Rick Warren. The broad subjects, the church says, are compassion and leadership. The participants stress that this will not be a debate; the campaigns flipped a coin, and Obama will go first.

Why women go overseas to give birth IN April 2003, Simone Headley, then eight months pregnant, packed up her husband and daughter and journeyed to a hospital in Georgia, United States, to give birth to her son. The boy, now four, has a US passport and a Jamaican naturalisation certificate, and Headley says when he reaches college age, he will benefit from the host of scholarships offered to Americans. This, she said, was her only reason for going through the trouble and expense of having her child in America. The opportunities for him will be limitless compared to Jamaica, she...

Dallas-based chain Value Giant announced Thursday that their retail stores will begin accepting Mexican pesos as payment, according to a press release. The Value Giant store at Southwest Center Mall will be hosting a promotional event on Saturday to introduce the new policy. Value Giant is a regional discount retailer offering groceries, clothes, electronics and general merchandise. In January, another Dallas-based business, Pizza Patron, created controversy with its announcement that it would accept the Mexican currency. Pizza Patron has reported increased profits since the decision was made.

Ted Kennedy must be stopped! He has pushed seven amnesties into law. Thats right, SEVEN: 1. In 1986, Ted Kennedy’s blanket amnesty for 2.7 million illegal aliens promised a lot more enforcement but did not set any requirments for actual reductions in illegal immigration. The illegal flow continued. 2. In 1994, Ted Kennedy’s Section 245(i) Amnesty gave legal residence and jobs to 578,000 illegal aliens. It was a temporary rolling amnesty primarily for extended family members of immigrants who instead of waiting in line, come on to the country illegally. The illegal flow continued. 3. In 1997, Ted Kennedy’s extension...

On June 10, the Justice Department announced that three Texas National Guard members helping to patrol the Mexican border had been charged with human smuggling. One of the three was caught, in uniform, driving a van packed with 24 illegal Mexican immigrants along Interstate 35 in Texas, some 68 miles north of the border. That driver, 26-year-old Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres of Laredo, was arrested June 7. His two accomplices, 25-year-old Julio Cesar Pacheco (also of Laredo) and 36-year-old Sgt. Clarence Hodge, Jr. (of Fort Worth), were arrested the following day. The suspects now face a possible federal indictment on...

In its first rebuke of Mayor Mark Funkhouser, the City Council has condemned his controversial appointment to the parks board. The council voted 9-3-1 this afternoon to call for Frances Semler to immediately resign her days-old appointment to the Board of Parks and Recreation. In a resolution, the council said if she does not do so within a week then Funkhouser should recommend the council remove her. It is a symbolic resolution that says Semeler’s appointment will be “a divisive force in our community rendering the work” of the parks board “suspect.” While not legally binding, it is a public...

Immigration and Customs enforcement officials arrested a suspected smuggler from El Salvador today after police found 30 undocumented immigrants in a southwest Houston apartment, authorities said. The raid resulted from a 6:45 p.m. call Monday from a person who told a 911 operator that a large group of people was in the apartment and they ''were being held against their will,'' Houston Police Department spokesman John Cannon said today. Inside the two-bedroom apartment in the 6500 block of Gessner, police found men, women and teenagers from Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras, said Leticia Zamarripa, an ICE spokeswoman. She said three...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush changed few minds on a bipartisan immigration overhaul on Tuesday at a rare luncheon meeting with Senate Republicans aimed at reviving the stalled legislation, lawmakers said. Bush acknowledged the bill that would legalize millions of unlawful immigrants ignited passions but said it was the best way to protect U.S. borders, a major concern for conservatives in his party who oppose it. "Some members in there believe that we need to move a comprehensive bill, some don't, I understand that," Bush told reporters following the meeting. "This is a highly emotional issue, but those...

This is a Patriot Power Communication. If you agree with the contents of this email, please forward it on to your email lists. Good Evening Americaone, Because Amnesty has reared its ugly head again, we need your help once again; and fast! All indicators point to a vote in the senate by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. In this email, we are asking that you make as many phone calls as you possibly can. As a reminder, this is our primary focus right now until we have defeated any and all amnesty proposals this year. 1) We ask...

I am posting this article because very few people know that the Catholic Church is going out of their way to make sure CIRA is the law of the land. The church has supported illegal immigration for many years and they have been active in getting CIRA passed. I also publishing this article in the hopes that the many Catholics who support the House of Representatives would know what their church is doing on the illegal immigration issue in the United States. I really do not think that Roman Catholics know the churches position on this matter.I know that there...

The Department of Homeland Security took a major step yesterday in seeking to control 6,000 miles of the nation's borders, calling for bids that eventually could bring upgraded sensor and surveillance technology, unmanned aerial vehicles and computers. In addition to 1,500 new U.S. Border Patrol agents this year and another 1,500 next year, the effort could include advanced video cameras with high-resolution images, infrared viewing and night vision; heat and motion detectors; biological and chemical detectors; ground radar; and facial-recognition software technologies. With Republicans and Democrats in Congress deadlocked on immigration reform, Homeland Security officials yesterday began the bid process...

Unless you are a poster child for the rich and famous, all of us have done at one time or another done a job that "most Americans won't do" Personally The worst job I ever had to do was shovel my way through knee deep rotten chicken parts until I had gotten rid of all of them....Without hip waders. I think the smell permanently ruined my olfactory nerves. So what was That Job that most americans won't do, that you did.

U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) today urged the civilian "Minuteman" border patrol organization not to begin operation along the Texas-Mexico border in October as planned, expressing concern that the group's activities could do more harm than good. "I would hope that everybody who is concerned about the porous nature of our borders would allow the federal government to act," Cornyn told 1200 WOAI news this morning. The Minuteman action "may actually not help solve the problem but may create a new and additional problem," Cornyn said. "So my preference would be to let the federal government do the job the...

The Mexican Experience and Lessons for WTO Negotiations on the Agreement on Agriculture Laura Carlsen | June 13, 2003 Americas Program, Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) www.americaspolicy.org The following is the text of a speech delivered by the author as part of the "Hearing of Experts on WTO: Agriculture, TRIPS and Singapore Issues" before the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research, and Energy of the European Parliament, June 11, 2003. The Doha Round mandated that special attention be given to the development needs of developing countries. Therefore, a review of the Agreement on Agriculture must focus on the impact of liberalization...