Free Republic

... FRANCISCO arrived in Hempstead, a decaying inner-ring suburb in Nassau County, nine years after his mother. She had come ahead in the early 1990s, as the Salvadoran civil war was ending, leaving Francisco in the care of an aunt until she could save $5,000 to pay a smuggler to ferry him across the border to join her. Francisco was 12 when he crossed from Tijuana to San Diego in 2001, stuffed in the trunk of a Honda next to several strangers. The trip was terrifying, but later he would say it had toughened him for life on Long Island....

No-Brainer choice for Latinos Much is heard about the competition between the Republicans and the Demo/Nihilists for the so called Latino vote. From the standpoint of the average Latino, this should be a “no-brainer,” the Republicans are stewards of two bright and shining beacons: Truth and Morality. The Demo/Nihilists are racists, constantly seeking to put Latinos on the same plantation where they are holding the blacks captive. Author and social observer, Star Parker has examined this phenomenon thoroughly in her book, Back on Uncle Sam’s Plantation. Visit her site at, http://www.urbancure.org/article.asp?id=3141 Here are some brief snips from Ms. Parker’s site:...

Back on May 5, the Mexican government gave their highest award for foreigners - the "Ohtli Award" - to Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza. That award is basically given to putative Americans who help the government of Mexico push their agenda inside the U.S. Per Google's accurate translation, those awards: recognize the contribution of the winners to the empowerment of Mexican communities and Mexican-American in United States (que reconocen la contribución de los galardonados al empoderamiento de las comunidades mexicana y mexicano-americana en Estados Unidos) More here: portal.sre.gob.mx/eua/index.php?option=news&task=viewarticle&sid=392 Note that Sonia Sotomayor was a member of...

Estrada's nomination for a federal judgeship set off alarm bells among Democrats. There is a group of left-leaning organizations -- People for the American Way, NARAL, the Alliance for Justice, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the NAACP, and others -- that work closely with Senate Democrats to promote Democratic judicial nominations and kill Republican ones. They were particularly concerned about Estrada. In November, 2001, representatives of those groups met with Democratic Senate staff. One of those staffers then wrote a memo to Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin, informing Durbin that the groups wanted to stall Bush nominees, particularly three they...

More than one in five of all children in the United States are Hispanic – a significant jump from 29 years ago when only about 9 percent of children were Latino, according to a Pew Hispanic report released today. The study, called "Latino Children: A majority are U.S.-Born offspring of Immigrants," states that more than half of the nation's 16 million Latino children are now "second generation," which means they are the U.S.-born children of at least one foreign-born parent. In California the number of second generation Latino children is 62 percent.

Hispanics now make up 22% of all children under the age of 18 in the United States--up from 9% in 1980--and as their numbers have grown, their demographic profile has changed. A majority (52%) of the nation's 16 million Hispanic children are now "second generation," meaning they are the U.S.-born sons or daughters of at least one foreign-born parent, typically someone who came to this country in the immigration wave from Mexico, Central America and South America that began around 1980. Some 11% of Latino children are "first generation"--meaning they themselves are foreign-born. And 37% are "third generation or higher"--meaning...

<p>President Obama's radical new nominee to replace Associate Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor, used to serve on the board of LatinoJustice PRLDEF (White House backgrounder), one of the racial grievance groups that helped to sink the judicial nomination of Honduran-born Miguel Estrada in 2003.</p>

Latino legal activists applauded Sotomayor's appointment. "This is a historic moment," said Cesar Perales, executive director of LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a New York-based civil rights group, where Sotomayor once served as a board member. "This is the most important Hispanic appointment that has been made in this country's history. It is a recognition that we are coming of age, that we can be one of nine wise people on the Supreme Court, making decisions that affect everyone in this country." During her years on the organization's board during the 1980s, the organization, then known as the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and...

Slaying of Deputy Jerry Ortiz triggered four-year investigation HAWAIIAN GARDENS - Almost 1,400 law enforcement officials converged on Hawaiian Gardens in a series of pre-dawn raids Thursday as part of the largest federal indictment against a street gang in United States history. Varrio Hawaiian Gardens, Hawaiian Gardens' oldest and most notorious gang, waged a racist campaign to eliminate black people from the community via attempted murders and other crimes, according to the federal racketeering indictments that werei unsealed Thursday. A total of five indictments charged 147 members and associates of the gang, and federal, state and local law enforcement officials...

HAWAIIAN GARDENS, Calif. (AP) - A Latino street gang waged a racist campaign to eliminate the city’s black residents through attempted murders and other crimes, according to federal racketeering indictments unsealed Thursday. Five indictments charged a total of 147 members and associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang, and federal and local agencies arrested 63 of them by early Thursday, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien said at a news conference. Another 35 defendants were already in custody on unrelated charges. Weapons and drugs worth more than $1 million also were seized in what O’Brien called “the largest gang takedown in...

AP) — WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama sought Friday to reassure Hispanics that swine flu won't lead to an epidemic of discrimination in the United States just because Mexico has been the epicenter of the outbreak. At a town hall-style meeting at the White House, Obama told about 130 Latino public health professionals and neighborhood volunteers that the nation's plan to fight the flu will not exclude their communities. Even if some residents are here illegally, they will still be able to get medical care for the flu, administration officials assured the group. "We're one country, we're one community. When...

Crimes are going unsolved in Charlotte because immigrants again don't feel safe reporting them, police say. Charlotte-Mecklenburg police chief Rodney Monroe, as part of his 2009 strategic plan, has launched a campaign to repair what he calls the “damaged” relationship between the two groups. The relationship began to crumble in 2006 due to increased immigration enforcement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hispanics made up nearly half of the more than 1 million people who became U.S. citizens last year, according to a Hispanic advocacy group. The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials said the number of Latinos who became Americans in fiscal year 2008 more than doubled over the previous year, to 461,317. That's nearly half of the record 1,046,539 new citizens overall in 2008, a 58 percent increase from 2007.

Hundreds of immigrant supporters rallied Saturday at a Family Unity forum south of Orlando, decrying deportations that tear apart families and calling for immigration reform. They were pastors from dozens of churches of various denominations, activists and local politicians, and a largely Hispanic crowd that easily overshadowed the sole anti-amnesty protester reported to have been escorted off the property. It was standing-room only inside Pabellón de la Victoria, a Hispanic evangelical church that seats about 1,500 people, as participants listened to U.S. citizens separated from their loved ones. .... A Puerto Rican mother of five told how her Mexican husband...

On a Los Angeles FM radio talk show, the following aired recently: A caller identifying himself as Mohammed said, “I believe that so-called Israel should be annihilated totally, wiped off the map ... I hope that Iran has the gall to nuke and exterminate them so they go back to Europe. “And as long as there is one Palestinian man, woman or child, there will be no peace in Palestine ... as far as I’m concerned, so-called Israel should be exterminated from the face of the earth. That’s my personal opinion. They have no right to exist….” Augustin Cebada, the...

LOS ANGELES — The sharp growth in illegal immigration and increased enforcement of immigration laws have dramatically altered the ethnic composition of offenders sentenced in federal courts. In 2007, Latinos accounted for 40 percent of all those convicted of federal crimes and one third of all federal prison inmates, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center, a non-partisan think tank. Nearly half of all Latino offenders, or about 48 percent, were convicted of immigration crimes. Drug offenses were the second-most prevalent charge among Latino federal convicts, according to the report, which was made public on Wednesday. As...

President Obama has decided to bring the U.S. Census Bureau under White House jurisdiction, a move that incensed House Republicans, who fired off a blistering letter to him Thursday, calling it "outrageous and unprecedented" and a "blatant partisan and political maneuver." The move would shift the chain of command with the bureau and the Commerce Department, where the bureau currently resides. It comes after the Congressional Black Caucus, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and other groups expressed displeasure with Obama's nominee for Commerce secretary, Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. Gregg, the groups said this week,...

The Obama administration acknowledged Thursday that the as-yet-unnamed Census Bureau director will have a direct line to the White House but sought to define the relationship as one in which the director would “work closely with” rather than report to President Obama’s senior staff. ***After black and Hispanic leaders raised concerns over Commerce Secretary-nominee Judd Gregg ’s commitment to core functions of the Census Bureau, a senior White House official told CQ on Wednesday that the director would report directly to the White House.*** That brought fire Thursday from Republicans, who accused the White House of attempting to gain advantage...

Sure, it’s early yet. Only the first day of February. Lots of time for someone to overtake her. But let’s recognize that Kirsten Gillibrand has taken the lead for the worst piece of political gobbledygook of this young year. As per the Associated Press, here’s what the newly-anointed senator from New York, billed as a “conservative” Democrat, had to say after emerging from a meeting with Latino leaders who had been peeved about her immigration policies: "We need to recognize the heritage that the immigrant community has provided to this country and put policies in place that will reflect that...

Key Points * Exit polls from Election Day indicated that President Barack Obama won 67 percent of the Latino vote, and John McCain 32 percent. This compares to estimates of Latino support for George W. Bush in the range of 39 percent or higher in 2004. In 2000, Bush is thought to have received 35 percent of the Latino vote. * The drop in support among Latinos for Republicans between 2004 and 2008 was part of a broad-based electoral movement away from the GOP, and was hardly specific to that demographic group. McCain received only 57 percent of the white...