Free Republic

A region in the Pacific Northwest of the United States is on high alert because of concerns about a possible invasion of bitcoin (BTC) miners. The state has previously experienced an influx of Chinese bitcoin miners, due to decreasing electricity prices. Bitcoin Bull-Run Could Revive Interest in Mining, Officials Warn Per the Seattle Times, bitcoin’s bull-run is putting the public utility districts (PUD) in Central Washington on high alert, monitoring for suspiciously high power bills. PUD officials claim crypto miners from China have come to the region to take advantage of its low hydroelectricity prices. Such developments worry the Columbia...

Yet another migrant caravan is forming in Honduras, the latest driven by hope that an incoming Joe Biden presidency will open gates closed by the outgoing Trump administration.According to fresh media reports, this caravan hopes to leave San Pedro Sula, Honduras, on January 15, which in the unlikely event it can get past Guatemala and Mexican pandemic-related border closures, seems timed to reach the U.S. southern border by Biden's January 20 inauguration. Reuters reports that the caravan is being organized on social media, including one Facebook group that boasts more than 5,500 members who exchange tips and advice on how...

The H1B visa system has been modified following the announcement of a final rule by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The new look H1B visa program will prioritize skills and salary level over the lottery system. The changes are said to be in the interests of protecting US workers and ensuring that the most highly skilled foreign workers benefit from the H1B visa program. The final rule announced by USCIS will come into effect 60 days after its publication in the Federal Register. The next H1B visa filing season is expected to begin on April 1 2021. Commenting...

The trial of Austrian anti-Sharia activist Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff for “denigrating” Islam has major implications for free speech in Europe. (Also read Michael Ledeen: "Islamophobia") The “hate speech” trial of the Austrian housewife and anti-Islam activist Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff resumed at a Vienna courthouse on January 18, following a two-month break in the hearings. Sabaditsch-Wolff, who has been charged with “incitement of hatred” and “denigrating religious teachings” after giving a series of seminars about the dangers of radical Islam, faces a possible three year prison sentence. Her case, which is eerily similar to the one involving the Dutch politician Geert Wilders,...

(Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge in California on Friday blocked the Trump administration from implementing a new rule that would have dramatically reshaped the U.S. asylum system and restricted asylum eligibility for immigrants seeking refuge in the United States. The injunction undermines the Trump administration's last-minute efforts to solidify its hardline immigration policies before U.S. president-elect Joe Biden takes office later this month. U.S. District Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California granted an injunction sought by immigrant advocacy groups seeking to block the rule, which the Trump administration published on Dec. 11 and was set to...

The hubbub of semi-trucks, bulldozers, excavators and the like hauling, trenching and moving their way across the southwest border came to an end last month as the last panel of the more than 107-mile wall that spans Yuma Sector’s area of operation was erected. Final Panel The last panel of the Yuma Sector's more than 107-mile area-of-operations ​​​​​​was installed recently. Although there are still some remaining security measures to be put in place, such as adding gates, lighting, cameras and a ground detection system, the last panel of fencing was placed on December 21, putting an end to a year-and-a-half-long...

All politics have consequences. But few political issues are as consequential as immigration because it alone raises that all-important question: "Who are we?" Immigration policy determines whether America exists as a coherent political unit, a home to a people sharing an identity and national destiny, or as "only a geographical expression" in the fashion of pre-unification Italy, where principalities and powers vied over a space known incidentally as the Italian peninsula. Rending Italy from the hands of petty princes formed an essential part of Niccolò Machiavelli's life work, for only a unified Italy could resist evils from within and without....

Democrats are looking to put the state of Georgia on a fast-track to becoming their next deep blue stronghold like California, primarily due to mass immigration that has increased their voting blocs. In a report by the Guardian, Democrats said they are fiercely courting the votes of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders — 3-in-4 of which were born outside the United States — in Georgia’s pair of runoff races on January 5 where Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) faces a challenge from Democrat Raphael Warnock and Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) is facing Democrat Jon Ossoff. “When you think about California, what...

In May of 2020, 14.8 miles of Border Wall project began in the east county of SanDiego. Today the final panel was installed near Tecate.

SANTA FE, N.M. - Lily Guido was having trouble hearing and she felt warm while talking to her co-worker at a California nursing home. She knew something was wrong. Fearing the coronavirus, Guido, 30, of Santa Rosa, California, didn’t go home to avoid possibly spreading it to her five children, isolating in a hotel room provided for health care workers like her. “They confirmed that I had COVID, and my husband was like, ‘Oh God, what’s going to happen?’” she said last week. “I couldn’t take it. I was in tears. I was in denial.” Out of work, her family’s...

Canada’s immigration minister is trying to accept U.S.-based illegal migrants who are going to be sent back to their home countries, according to the Washington Post. The minister is now offering Canadian residency to several migrants in U.S. detention centers who face deportation, according to a pro-migration report in the newspaper.

The Trump administration says it’s on track to build 450-miles of its border wall by the end of the year. That’s the goal that the White House set last year. The Customs and Border Protection now says that 446-miles have been completed as of Monday (28 December 2020).

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated two lower court decisions that blocked the government from excluding illegal aliens during the process of allotting congressional seats While the Supreme Court's Dec. 18 decision will allow the Trump administration to pursue the policy of excluding illegal aliens from the apportionment base, the ruling stated: "Consistent with our determination that standing has not been shown and that the case is not ripe, we express no view on the merits of the constitutional and related statutory claims presented. We hold only that they are not suitable for adjudication at this time."

President Trump is facing a fast-approaching deadline to extend an executive order he imposed earlier this year suspending various temporary work visas amid the coronavirus pandemic. Trump is under pressure from some corners to extend the order into 2021, which would put pressure on the incoming Biden administration over whether to quickly rescind it. The president's advisers are said to be split over whether Trump should act, according to sources familiar with discussions. Trump in June signed an executive order suspending the issuance of H-1B visas, H-2B visas, H-4 visas, L-1 visas and certain J-1 visas. The moratorium on new...

Hopefully, you all got what you wanted from Santa this year. But even if you didn’t, you can take some comfort that there are 21 people in New York State who certainly did. Their presents weren’t dropped off by a jolly old elf coming down their chimney, however. Governor Andrew Cuomo decided to play Santa on Christmas eve and handed out nearly two dozen pardons and sentence commutations. He put the announcement on the official New York Governor’s website, along with explanations of each person’s crimes and what impact these gifts would have on them.

Between October 1, 2019 and September 30, 2020, ICE agents deported 185,884 illegal aliens from the United States. About 64 percent of those deported, 118,949 illegal aliens, had criminal convictions or pending criminal charges against them. Nearly 14,500 illegal aliens deported were family units while a little more than 4,000 were Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs).

Swedish Professor of Economics Mats Hammarstedt has rejected claims that mass migration can be economically beneficial over the long term, citing problems of integration. Professor Hammarstedt, who teaches at the Linnaeus University in Växjö and the Institute for Business Research, said that integration failures, particularly of asylum seekers, have contributed to a much higher unemployment rate among migrants over the long-term. In an article for the Swedish publication Dagens Industri, Hammarstedt said: “The lack of integration of foreign-born people into the labour market is well documented and the situation has remained largely unchanged in recent decades.” He added: “Every year,...

A French immigration investigator has claimed that some 100 people-smuggling gangs are running illegal migrant routes across the English Channel to Britain. Following the bust of a trafficking network in the UK — which was raking in some £1 million per month by offering a “VIP” service to illegal migrants — officials have uncovered a vast network of people-smuggling gangs operating in France. Speaking to The Times, a senior investigator for France’s national immigration policing unit said that he believes there are about 100 gangs providing safe houses for migrants and hiding speedboats to help launch the migrants in the...

Official figures show the Home Office cannot trace tens of thousands of people who have either skipped their immigration bail conditions or fled from detention centres. Last night, campaigners seized on the data, which was released under Freedom of Information laws, as proof that Britain’s immigration system is not being properly enforced. Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK, said: ‘This is a shocking failure. It is ridiculous to intercept those crossing the Channel illegally or after they emerge from the back of lorries, only to turn them loose to disappear into the undergrowth of the shadow economy. It simply...

The "Our Lady of Hausenborn" chapel is a popular place of pilgrimage: now much has been destroyed there. However, a witness may have observed something important. According to the police, a witness reported on the phone that three male youths noticed on Sunday near the Hausenborn pilgrimage church in the Neuwied district . They went in the direction of the chapel, roared and bumped into each other. One of the three wore a striking jacket, the three teenagers were all about the same size. It is not yet clear whether the three are responsible for the destruction in the chapel....