Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The Board of Supervisors today agreed to oppose a federal policy that ends reimbursements to local governments for the costs of jailing individuals whose immigration status is unknown. . . The federal government has partially reimbursed the cost of jailing foreign-born inmates whose immigration status is unknown since 1996. But the Department of Justice now says it will reimburse costs only for inmates verified as illegal immigrants by the Department of Homeland Security. . .Last year, Los Angeles County accounted for more than 8 percent of jailed and undocumented illegal immigrants nationwide and 4 percent of...

Illegal immigrants are erroneously perceived to commit more crime based on the mistaken theory their population size is much larger than it really is, according to the findings of a respected public university in a southern border state. If this isn’t the most ridiculous waste of taxpayer dollars, what is? A professor at a taxpayer-funded university in Arizona has actually published a study intended to answer a baffling question; why do so many Americans believe “undocumented immigrants” commit more crime? “The public consistently perceives immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, as criminal,” says the Arizona State University professor (Xia Wang) of criminology...

“Listen…there is this back-and-forth that happens all the time. I will tell you Jeb Bush’s Republican Party is a party of the future.” “I don’t compare myself to Jeb. He is a great man. I am a mere servant of the ‘Jebular.’ But Joe Scarborough’s Republican Party is the future of the Republican Party.” Scarborough continued his rant by expressing his view of what ingredients a successful Republican Party needed, which is not what many tea party activist have been promoting. “I’ve had people come up to me hysterically the past couple of years screaming and yelling. I say put...

Olga Diaz is using her position as the first Latina on the Escondido City Council to fight the anti-immigrant policies that have made the municipality north of San Diego famous. . . "The other councilors don't understand that they can't just offend undocumented people without also offending those who have documents, since the families have a mixed status," Diaz said. . . "Since it's the first time that the whites have been exceeded by another group, they feel threatened and the elected officials have devoted themselves to promoting fear. The inability to reason with the councilors was one of...

Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and brother of the ex-president, has warned Mitt Romney that he has boxed himself in politically with rhetoric over illegal immigration and said Republicans need a change of tone on the issue if they are to win over Latino voters. Bush said that immigration was among issues that have seen Republicans become so partisan that even Ronald Reagan would face trouble winning the party's presidential nomination today because he co-operated with Democrats. The former governor, who has been touted as a possible running mate for Romney but who says he does not want the...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has requested a retainer on the man arrested in the July 2011 fatal hit and run of a bicyclist in Seattle. Erlin Garcia Reyes, 28, of Normandy Park, was arrested for felony hit and run on Wednesday. ICE officials have confirmed to 97.3 KIRO-FM that Garcia-Reyes is in the country illegally. Police believe Reyes was the driver of an SUV that fatally struck and killed 44-year-old Michael Wang on July 28, 2011. The SUV hit Wang as the driver made a left turn on Dexter Ave. North in South Lake Union. The suspect fled the scene....

WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Tran officials say they're selling fewer bus passes at a discount because, among other changes, they're not letting illegal immigrants buy them anymore. But some immigrant advocates say the rules leave some of the poorest residents of the county scrambling for ways to get to jobs or supermarkets. "They are relying more and more on taxis, which cost a lot more, and they are deferring going to doctors' appointments and social service appointments," Sergio Palacio, executive director of the Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach, told The Palm Beach Post last week. . . The...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- MS-13 gang leader to serve 50 years for sex trafficking teens in Northern Virginia A gang member was sentenced Friday to serve 50 years in prison for forcing girls as young as 14 to work as prostitutes in Northern Virginia. A jury at U.S. District Court in Alexandria in February found 24-year-old Rances Ulices Amaya, also known as “Murder” or “Blue,” guilty of conspiring to commit sex trafficking of a child and three counts of sex trafficking. According to an affidavit on file in federal court, Amaya, of Springfield, a leader of the criminal street gang Mara...

An illegal immigrant who was deported on two occasions after he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl in Montgomery County, only to return to the area, was sentenced to more than four years in prison as a dangerous criminal alien after being busted for drunk driving. Dagoberto Tiznado, 33, will be deported for a third time once he finishes his time behind bars, officials said. Tiznado was sentenced in federal court in Maryland to 50 months in prison on a charge of illegally re-entering the United States as a convicted criminal alien.

The Republican Party is officially dreaming. Rep. David Rivera, a Southern Florida Republican, introduced a conservative alternative to the DREAM Act to Congress on Wednesday, ahead of rising GOP star Marco Rubio's version. Rivera’s bill, “Studying Towards Adjusted Residency Status Act,” or STARS, would allow some undocumented students who enroll for college to stay in the country legally and eventually apply for citizenship.

A Texas company and a field operations supervisor stand accused of conspiring to harbor and transport Mexican workers living in Williamsport but not permitted to live or work in the U.S., employing them as part of a team doing seismic and surface mapping surveys for the oil and gas industry. GPX, a seismic surveying company based in Sealy, Texas, and its field operations supervisor, Douglas C. Wiggill, 42, of Fort Worth, Texas, are named in a grand jury indictment charging the company and Wiggill with harboring and transporting illegal aliens and conspiracy to commit those offenses, according to U.S. Attorney...

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Sparks man accused of performing cosmetic surgeries in homes without a medical license has pleaded guilty to a felony count of practicing medicine without a license. . . He's accused of targeting illegal immigrants who were looking for nose jobs, stomach staplings and other cosmetic surgery. Authorities say three victims were not seriously injured by the medical work. Deputy District Attorney Nathan Edwards says Orozco-Abundis is an illegal immigrant whose July 17 sentencing will likely be followed by a deportation order for his removal from the country.

Authorities say a drunken driver injured two women in a head-on collision in Metairie on Saturday, then fled the scene. Deputies later arrested Jesus Guzman-Gomez, 22, of Metairie, an arrest report said. . . Guzman-Gomez was headed westbound in a maroon Jeep Cherokee when he veered inexplicably into the eastbound lanes, an arrest report said. Guzman-Gomez's vehicle crashed head-on into a red Jeep Cherokee being driven by an unidentified 49-year-old woman, Fortunato said. He then drove off without stopping or identifying himself, the report said. The driver of the red Jeep Cherokee suffered head, neck and back injuries, the...

Oxnard Police released a photo of the man they arrested over the weekend for allegedly molesting a child in the Oxnard Walmart store. 39-year-old Juan Francisco Gonzalez Revelez was arrested Saturday at the store by police after an alert store employee recognized him from security video of the alleged sexual assault on Friday. Police are also looking into whether Gonzalez is a suspect in a similar incident in January at the store. He is charged with two felony counts of lewd acts upon a child. He is due in court Wednesday afternoon for arraignment. Gonzalez is being held without...

HURON COUNTY, MI (WNEM) - A 911 call for assistance following a disagreement in Huron County actually resulted in six illegal aliens being taken into custody. The Huron County Sheriff says 911 central dispatch received a call just before 10 a.m. Wednesday requesting an ambulance on M-142 near Moore road in Oliver Township. When a sheriff's deputy arrived to assist the ambulance, the deputy found that there was no need for an ambulance. Instead, he said he found six Mexican men near the roadway who had been working for an out-of-state construction company at a nearby grain elevator construction project....

ALBANY, N.Y. — A Germantown man who has been deported to Mexico four times and arrested by Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a total of six times for illegally entering the United States pleaded guilty to re-entering the country illegally once again, the U.S. Attorney’s Northern District of New York Office said Thursday. Jesus Vazquez Loyola, 26, who is a citizen of Mexico, faces two years imprisonment, supervised release of up to one year, and a fine of up to $250,000 after pleading guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Mae D’Agostino to felony re-entry Wednesday, prosecutors said....

On Thursday, Milford police arrested Tigoberto Orellano-Alonso, 25, after he was witnessed driving erratically on South Bow Street. The Mexican national was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol as well as driving without a license. . . According to a police report, Orellano-Alonso led the arresting officer on a short chase and failed to fully cooperate when stopped. An open container of alcohol was also observed inside the vehicle. . . In light of several recent incidents, it would seem that Massachusetts’ roads have become very dangerous . . Denice was hit and dragged close to a...

The Columbia County illegal-alien building contractor got 15 months in federal prison last Tuesday for harboring illegal aliens himself. Diaz had managed to ensconce himself here illegally in a very nice multimillion-dollar house and build up a substantial contracting business on the back of other illegal immigrants – using the cheap labor to leverage an unfair business advantage over legal contractors who abide by our laws. Yet, Diaz had considerable local support in the courtroom – otherwise sensible business people who somehow thought this guy was getting a raw deal. To heck with the rest of Columbia County and their...

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - The owners of a Ridgeland irrigation company pled guilty to harboring illegal aliens this morning. The U.S. attorney's office says Paul and Barbara Love, owners of Love Irrigation, were charged with improper use of social security numbers and hiding the fact they hired illegal workers from immigration agents. As part of a plea agreement the couple has said they will pay a fine of $515,000.00. They could also face up to ten years in prison. Sentencing has been set for August 2nd. Tuesday, Barbara Love, the majority owner of the company, is expected to plea guilty,...

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A man was arrested after allegedly trying to kidnap and rape a 67-year-old woman who was sitting in a car near Congress and South Franklin streets . . Antonio Lopez-Bautista, 18, of South Federal Street, an illegal immigrant, was charged with second-degree attempted kidnapping, first-degree attempted rape and second-degree assault . . He pulled her from the car and began to assault her, dragging her along the sidewalk, punching and kicking her while trying to pull her into an isolated, unlit area, according to police. . . Police found Lopez-Bautista hiding under bushes a few buildings...