Free Republic

Rochester, N.Y. (WHAM) — The Trump administration is taking the City of Rochester to court following a controversial encounter between Rochester police officers and federal immigration authorities. A March 24 traffic stop on Whitney Street near Lyell Avenue sparked controversy after Mayor Malik Evans and Rochester Police Chief David Smith claimed the officers involved violated the city's immigration policy by assisting Border Patrol agents at the scene. BACKGROUND: Body camera video released from immigration-related traffic stop in Rochester | Man charged following controversial immigration-related traffic stop in Rochester | Woman's family 'torn apart' by traffic stop involving federal agents in...

Muslims Threaten to Sue Spain in Strasbourg Over Holy Week Processions, Claim They “Offend Islam”A group of British Muslims of Iranian origin, led by Anjem Choudary, is threatening to file a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.They allege that Spain’s traditional Holy Week processions are an “offense to Islam” and to the Prophet Muhammad, demanding their immediate ban.The Muslim group intends to sue Spain in Strasbourg over these Catholic processions, with Choudary arguing that these religious events, rooted in Catholic tradition since 1978, are a “provocation” against Muslims.“It’s an offense to the thousands of Muslims forced...

BREAKING: Justice Kagan just denied emergency request from four people in the US illegally who are set to be deported. They lost before Bd of Immigration Appeals, 9th Cir affirmed. They asserted that they were victims of cartel violence and face explicit death threats.

On Feb. 10, Francis addressed a letter to all American Catholic bishops on immigration. His communique was titled “Letter of the Holy Father Francis to the Bishops of the United States.” Here is an excerpt of what he said. “Dear Brothers in the Episcopate, the book of Exodus, invites us to look at the reality of our time, so clearly marked by the phenomenon of migration, as a decisive moment in history to reaffirm … the infinite and transcendent dignity of every human person.“Even a cursory examination of the church’s social doctrine emphatically shows that Jesus Christ … did not...

Helena DaSilva Hughes, president of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center, said she’s been talking with Portuguese officials in the Azores to understand what families will need in order to “self-deport.” Credit: Jodi Hilton/The Public’s Radio Lucia flips through immigration papers she keeps in a large pink folder at her home in New Bedford. She’s originally from the Azorean islands, an autonomous region of Portugal, and has lived in the U.S. with her husband and two children for about 12 years. The walls of her home are lined with family photos and potted plants with little Portuguese flags stand by the entrance....

Dozens of deported illegal migrants — including some suspected Tren de Aragua gangbangers — grinned and waved proudly as they landed in their native Venezuela early Monday after the South American country resumed accepting repatriation flights from the US. Nearly 200 deportees were spotted disembarking from the jet soon after it touched down at an airport near Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, first thing Monday morning. Footage of the arrival showed some migrants appearing to taunt the US by raising their hands in the air as they emerged from the plane — just days after the Trump administration deported scores of Venezuelans...

Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that President Donald Trump was “violating the fundamental rights of people in order to punish them.” Partial transcript as follows: STEPHANOPOULOS: You saw Jon Karl’s piece about the president’s retribution campaign, he promised to be the retribution during the campaign. We’re seeing these moves against universities. We’re seeing these moves against law firms. You took the Senate floor to protest. What should these law firms and universities do? BOOKER: Well, first and foremost, you’re calling retribution, but it’s something far worse than that. If you look around the world, from...

A man from Harlem in New York City who has spent more than five decades in the United States was denied release on Friday after recently being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a routine check-in. Why It Matters Some attorneys and immigration groups have warned individuals either traveling out of the U.S. or entering that the federal government, due to the illegal immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, could potentially detain individuals—even those with visas or green cards, or students with legal standing to remain here. Recent cases involving ICE detaining individuals that include students and...

MSNBC contributor Claire McCaskill claimed Wednesday on “Morning Joe” that President Donald Trump was deporting people because he didn’t “like their opinion.” McCaskill said, “The underpinning for this whole thing is this idea that we’re at war with Venezuela, and therefore, these people need to be deported without due process, without the court’s involvement. Clearly, everybody in America wants violent criminals who are here illegally out of the country, end of discussion, full stop. So let’s do it according to our laws. It’s not that hard. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time.”

[Catholic Caucus] Do the Bishops Really Emphasize "Using Proper Terms?" That Depends!When I'm in a masochistic mood, I read the Arlington Catholic Herald. Usually, I just scan the headlines and put it in the paper recycling. Occasionally, though, I actually do read at least a few articles. Sometimes it even gives me a good laugh, an eye roll, and a rueful head shake.Such was the case when I read an article yesterday explaining how the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) is getting a new name, OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation of Adults). Wow! Now that is an earth-shaking...

D.C. Cardinal Slams Trump’s Migration Reforms as ‘Crusade’“The pathway of crusade and mass deportation cannot be followed in conscience by those who call themselves disciples of Jesus Christ, and we must work to make sure that that does not happen,” Cardinal Robert McElroy said in a speech to the Jesuit Refugee Service organization in D.C.McElroy called for welcoming policies similar to those established by President Joe Biden’s border czar, Alejandro Mayorkas, saying:The first pathway — which Catholic social teaching would support — is to change our laws so that they have secure borders and dignity for the treatment of everyone...

It's Not Just Thirty Pieces of Silver These Days, It's Billions for the Pharisee Bishops!Are the U.S. Catholic Bishops Pharisees or Shepherds?There's a story, perhaps apocryphal, about a conversation between Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, Secretary of State to Pius VII, and Napoleon Bonaparte which has the ring of truth. Apparently Napoleon told the cardinal he had the power to destroy the Church. The ironic answer from the prelate was, "If the bishops haven't been able to do it in the past 1800 years, how can you expect to succeed?"From my lifetime perspective in the 20th and now 21st century, many of...

Congressional Republicans are turning up the heat on Chinese influence in the U.S. with new legislation aimed at shutting down Chinese "police stations" operating across the country. These covert outposts, reportedly set up by the Chinese Communist Party, are part of a more significant effort to monitor and intimidate Chinese nationals and dissidents living in the U.S. The proposed bill seeks to counter these foreign operations, which many lawmakers consider a serious threat to American sovereignty and national security. The move underscores growing concerns over China's expanding reach on U.S. soil and its efforts to interfere in American affairs. This...

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Lennon Tyler and her German fiancé often took road trips to Mexico when he vacationed in the United States since it was only a day’s drive from her home in Las Vegas, one of the perks of their long-distance relationship. But things went terribly wrong when they drove back from Tijuana last month. U.S. border agents handcuffed Tyler, a U.S. citizen, and chained her to a bench, while her fiancé, Lucas Sielaff, was accused of violating the rules of his 90-day U.S. tourist permit, the couple said. Authorities later handcuffed and shackled Sielaff and sent him...

It's almost like he lost a division. Venezuela's socialist dictator, Nicolas Maduro, has stepped forward with a bizarre mixture of rage and crocodile tears, whimpering about all theVenezuelan criminals shipped by the U.S. to El Salvador this weekend for a stretch in President Nayyib Bukele's famously strict prisons. According to CNN: Venezuela’s leader has described the deportation of more than 200 mostly Venezuelan migrants sent by the United States to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador as a “kidnapping,” and denied they are criminals while backing calls for their return. “Nayib Bukele should not be an accomplice to this kidnapping,...

Washington’s new archbishop expresses concern about impact of policies on undocumented immigrants and federal workersIn an interview five days before he would be installed as the new archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Robert W. McElroy expressed concern about the personal impact of the Trump Administration’s controversial policies of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and the widespread firings of federal workers.When asked what his message would be to the immigrant community at this time, Cardinal McElroy said, “Sorrow. Love, embrace, compassion. Advocacy and solidarity. And all done in God’s name.”In the wide-ranging March 6 interview with the editors of the Catholic Standard...

Protests erupted in the Tennessee House of Representatives on Tuesday as lawmakers debated a bill that would allow public schools to bar illegal migrants from enrolling their children in public schools.The proposal, introduced by House Majority Leader William Lamberth and state Senator Bo Watson, would give local school districts the authority to decide whether to admit non-citizens.If passed, school districts can “enroll, or refuse to enroll, a student who is unlawfully present in the United States.”The bill was approved by the House K-12 subcommittee with a 5-3 vote. One Republican, Representative Mark White of Memphis, joined the two Democrats opposing...

Self-styled moderate Democrats are pushing a future campaign message on the issue that defeated Kamala Harris: Don’t talk about migration. Instead, Democrats should wrap themselves in the flag and patriotic imagery, says a five-page strategy memo drafted by Third Way, a pseudo-moderate Democrat group that held a post-election “Comeback Retreat” in February 2025: Embrace patriotism, community, and traditional American imagery (e.g., farms, main streets).The memo mentions immigration once — but only to slam the GOP’s messaging on the issue: “Democrats often let Republicans set the terms of cultural debates (e.g., crime, immigration) instead of clearly defining their own positions in...

State Dept. terminates USCCB migration fundsThe State Department canceled a contract with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Thursday, likely bringing to a halt a nationwide effort organized by the USCCB to provide resettlement services for refugees to the United States. The cancellation leaves uncertain the status of a USCCB lawsuit aiming to recoup millions in back payments for resettlement services, with the federal government telling a judge that the USCCB should seek payment through “available administrative channels” outside the lawsuit.In a Feb. 26 letter, U.S. State Department comptroller Joseph Kouba told the USCCB that its financial agreement for...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration is directing immigration agents to track down hundreds of thousands of migrant children who entered the United States without their parents, expanding the president's mass deportation effort, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo outlines an unprecedented push to target migrant children who crossed the border illegally as unaccompanied minors. It lays out four phases of implementation, beginning with a planning phase on January 27, though it did not provide a start date for enforcement operations. More than 600,000 immigrant children have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without...