Free Republic

Homeland Security takes Bolingbrook man into ICE custody after he appears in Kane County court on DUI Lawyer urges Chief Judge to reinstate Zoom court for everyone of Latino descent A Mexican immigrant from Bolingbrook, who had just appeared in Kane County court, was taken into custody by U.S. Homeland Security Thursday and is now being held in ICE custody at a Broadview detention facility, according to Kane County officials and public records. Orlando Manriquez-Valdivia, 38, has Mexico listed as his country of origin, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detainee information. … He had just pleaded guilty to...

The woman found not guilty by reason of insanity after running over a Chicago police officer with his own squad car is now asking the court to let her start anew—by changing her name. Whitley Temple, who was acquitted last year of attempting to murder Officer Ed Poppish during a bizarre 2022 West Side encounter, filed a petition on July 11 to legally change her first name to “Michelle,” according to Cook County court records. Temple fled the scene in the patrol car, briefly stopped at a gas station, then continued onto the Eisenhower Expressway, reaching speeds of 97 mph...

A 52-year-old Waukegan man accused of hiding a woman’s body in a trash can full of bleach couldn’t be jailed under Illinois’ new no-cash bail law when he was arrested in April. But on Saturday, his luck ran out. Federal immigration agents arrested Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez at a Chicago market over the weekend, saying he is a Mexican national living in the United States illegally. And unlike local prosecutors and judges, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) isn’t constrained by Illinois’ SAFE-T Act. Authorities say he concealed the body of 37-year-old Megan Bos of Antioch, who disappeared in February. After nearly...

SACRAMENTO — For nearly 20 years, Maria would call her sister — a nurse in Mexico — for advice on how to manage her asthma and control her husband’s diabetes instead of going to the doctor in California. She didn’t have legal status, so she couldn’t get health insurance and skipped routine exams, relying instead on home remedies and, at times, getting inhalers from Mexico. She insisted on using only her first name for fear of deportation. Things changed for Maria and many others in recent years when some Democratic-led states opened up their health insurance programs to low-income immigrants...

Immigration authorities in Chicago arrested a Mexican illegal immigrant accused of decapitating a missing Illinois woman and storing her body in a storage container filled with bleach. Jose Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, 52, of Waukegan, Illinois, was arrested in April and charged with concealing a corpse, abusing a corpse and obstruction of justice, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Immediately after his first court appearance, Lake County Judge Randie Bruno released Mendoza-Gonzalez from custody. He was arrested again Saturday afternoon at a market in Chicago by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and remains in ICE custody, according to DHS....

In 2021, California’s population declined for the first time since earning statehood in 1850. In 2022, it declined again. And then again in 2023. For a state historically defined by limitless opportunity and an ever-growing population, three straight years of decline delivered a cold dose of reality: things weren't working. The Golden State, of course, is not alone. Since Covid, the biggest blue states have dramatically lagged behind the biggest Republican states in population growth. Between 2020 and 2024, California, New York, and Illinois each lost more than 100,000 thousand residents. Florida and Texas, meanwhile, both gained around 2 million...

There’s an old saying that goes, something that can’t go on forever won’t. Chicago is now in the early stages of learning that this applies to their public school system. They’re facing a massive budget deficit of $734 million and are on pace to lay off almost 1,500 teachers and staffers. Perhaps Mayor Brandon Johnson should have been more focused on delivering the services that American citizen taxpayers paid for and less on the needs of illegal immigrants and Chicago’s ‘sanctuary city’ status. ... Chicago Public Schools parents and community members sounded off on Monday, three days after the district...

A professor at the University of Chicago recently cursed against the school and said she only worked there to “build power” for Palestinian solidarity. The professor, Eman Abdelhadi, made the statements on July 5 during a socialism conference held in Chicago, according to The Daily Caller. In her remarks, Abdelhadi reportedly said that UChicago is “evil” and a “colonial landlord,” and that she asked herself why she worked there. “F**k the University of Chicago—it’s evil,” the professor said. “You know, it’s a colonial landlord. Why would I put any of my political energy into this space?”

The mother of 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, who was fatally stabbed while trying to protect her from a violent attack by her just-paroled ex-boyfriend, is calling out Illinois politicians for using her son’s name for political gain while fighting her civil lawsuit against the state behind closed doors. Laterria Smith, who was also seriously injured in the March 2024 attack, released an open letter to Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday. In it, she accuses his administration of publicly invoking Jayden’s name to promote changes to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, even as state lawyers move to dismiss her negligence suit tied...

In one of the first nationwide hypothetical polls for the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, Illinois Governor and billionaire JB Pritzker ranks at the bottom, receiving the lowest level of support from minority voters as prominent Democrats begin preparing for potential campaigns. On Friday, the well-regarded Emerson College Polling released new results showing former U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg leading the Democratic field with 16 percent support. Former Vice President Kamala Harris follows at 13 percent, with California Governor Gavin Newsom close behind at 12 percent. JB Pritzker, billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune who invested over $350 million of...

In a chilling encounter that began with a gay dating app hookup, a young man from Whiting found himself battling for survival after a vicious hammer attack inside an abandoned home in West Pullman, officials said. Details of the crime, which occurred on March 23, 2024, are now emerging as prosecutors charge Carl Sturdivant, a multi-convicted felon, with attempted murder and robbery. In a detention filing, prosecutors said the 24-year-old Indiana man connected with Carl Sturdivant, 44, through the gay dating site Sniffies.com, agreeing to meet at a Motel 6 in Hammond for a sexual encounter. Officials stated the victim...

Police arrested 39 people in connection with the Chicago Pride Parade and its aftermath between Sunday evening and early Monday, including five individuals who were illegally carrying firearms, according to the Chicago Police Department. One man charged with weapon possession was allegedly carrying two guns. Of the 39 arrested, 13 individuals, including two juveniles, were charged with felonies, while 21 face misdemeanor charges, and one person received citations, a police spokesperson said. Charges were still pending against four people as of midday Monday.

A medical negligence lawsuit filed against an Illinois abortionist alleges a botched abortion so severely mishandled that half of an unborn baby’s body was left inside a woman’s, requiring emergency surgery to address life-threatening complications. The case, has sparked outrage among pro-life advocates who cite it as evidence of the dangers inherent in abortion procedures. The plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe to protect her privacy, underwent an abortion on April 1 and 2, 2023, at Equity Clinic in Champaign, Illinois. Done by Dr. Keith Reisinger-Kindle, according to the lawsuit filed in the Circuit Court of Champaign County, the abortionist perforated...

Across the country, American factories are reopening. Companies are returning home. Jobs are being created. Under Donald Trump’s leadership, U.S. manufacturing is seeing a revival. Tariffs on foreign goods, tax incentives for domestic production, and fewer federal regulations have caused a shift. Major corporations are pulling operations out of China and Mexico and bringing them back to American soil. Kentucky. Alabama. Indiana. Texas. South Carolina. These states are attracting billions of dollars in new manufacturing investments. Thousands of new jobs are being created. But Illinois is being left out—and Governor JB Pritzker’s tax-heavy policies are a major reason why.

A man has been charged with punching at least four people and knocking them to the ground on the same day earlier this week in the Loop, South Loop and Lakeview neighborhoods. Joshua Rowell, 36, is charged with two counts of aggravated battery in Cook County Circuit Court, and one count of forcible assault on a federal judicial employee in federal court in Chicago. According to a Chicago Police Department arrest report, Rowell was arrested shortly before 5 p.m. on Tuesday in the South Loop, after he attacked a 20-year-old woman on the street in the 900 block of South...

CWBChicago has obtained surveillance footage of a shooting that left one teenager dead and another gravely wounded near the Douglass Park swimming pool on Thursday evening. Marjay Dotson, 15, died from a gunshot wound to his back, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. A 14-year-old boy, identified to the media by family members as Jeremy Herred, has undergone surgery for a gunshot wound to his neck. On Saturday evening, Chicago police announced that murder charges had been filed against 55-year-old Charles Leto of Lakeview. CPD and fire department personnel responded to the park at 1401 South Sacramento at...

Pritzker was scheduled to crisscross the state for a series of reelection rallies starting Thursday morning at the Grand Crossing Park Field House on the South Side.

Pritzker will make his reelection campaign official with kickoff events in Chicago and Springfield, but it’s still unknown whom he’ll tap as running mate.

Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) president Stacy Davis Gates said on Monday that “all children belong to” the union. At the City Club Chicago event, Gates bashed President Donald Trump for lessening the power of teachers’ unions, calling his education agenda a “relitigation” of the Civil War while complaining about the failing state of Chicago schools. Quoting civil rights activist James Baldwin, Gates tells the crowd, “The children are always ours. Every single one of them, all over the globe.” Gates then mocks parents who would respond by saying “CTU thinks your children are its children.” “Yes, we do,” Gates said....

Chicago activists welcomed word of a “complete and total ceasefire” in the war between Israel and Iran at a downtown protest Monday evening but said they were cautiously optimistic and urged continued agitation. The protest at Federal Plaza attracted about 200 people despite Monday’s extreme heat. Demonstrators called for the United States to stop bombing Iranian nuclear sites, among other demands. Many condemned U.S. military aid to Israel, supporting its war in Iran and also in Gaza, which has lasted nearly two years. President Donald Trump said on social media Monday that Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire...