Free Republic

Does illegal immigration help or hurt the U.S. economy? It sounds like a simple enough question. But, like the classic Japanese movie "Rashomon," in which truth depends entirely on point of view, the answer hinges on where you fit in the economy. "GDP per domestic person goes up," said James Smith, a senior economist at the Rand think tank in Santa Monica and lead author of the National Research Council's study "The New Americans: Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Effects of Immigration." Since 1980, he said, all immigrants, including both undocumented and legal, have boosted GDP by $10 billion per year....

SAN ANTONIO - Law enforcement from the United States and Mexico have formed a partnership aimed at quelling drug-related violence on the border. U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Mexican counterpart Daniel Cabeza de Vaca stood side by side Thursday to announce the security plan. The Violent Crime Impact Team will target the most violent members of warring drug cartels. Armed with high-powered weapons, the warring cartels have been blamed for more than 140 murders this year alone in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. The new partnership will double the current presence of federal law enforcement in Laredo and the border, Gonzales...

Kidnapping, Murder Sweep Nuevo Laredo Friday, August 05, 2005 NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — A city official in charge of public security was gunned down along with another man in the downtown area of the embattled city of Nuevo Laredo on Friday. According to reports, it appeared to be an organized hit involving two cars. Nuevo Laredo, just cross the border from the United States, has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Rival drug cartels have turned the city into a war zone as they battle for control of the lucrative illegal drug market in the U.S....

Leftist “militants” ushered in the new year in Colombia in true form: Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) murdered 17 peasants, including 6 women and 4 children, who were gathered to celebrate New Year’s Eve. When I say “true form,” I mean FARC was practicing the art that the extreme left has mastered, perhaps invented: terrorism. On this New Year’s Eve, the FARC was proving it believes the “end justifies the means,” as it is the grotesque, disfigured child of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and, yes, even Hitler -- remember, he was a National Socialist (Nazi). FARC is...