Free Republic

President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged to bring his own party along to reform the nation's broken immigration system, pleading with Republicans to join in as the only realistic hope to solve a politically volatile problem. Obama also offered fresh, stern criticism of a new Arizona law that allows police to question anyone about their immigration status if they have reason to suspect they are in the country illegally. The president said a comprehensive federal immigration effort is needed to prevent "bad laws" like Arizona's. "I will bring the majority of Democrats to the table in getting this done," Obama...

(snip) This is also an about-face on immigration reform for Graham because he has been pressing the White House to move forward on comprehensive reform on that issue as well. His move comes just one day after Obama called on both parties to pass immigration reform on the federal level in response to a new law in Arizona that will allow local police to stop individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants. Democrats privately charged Saturday that Graham was trying to scuttle immigration reform in order to protect his close friend, Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, from having to deal with a...

Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) threatened to abandon his effort to push a climate and energy bill Saturday, saying he will only continue if Democratic leaders promise to relinquish plans to bring up immigration legislation first. Graham's departure, if he follows through on his ultimatum, would likely doom any chance of passing a climate bill this year. He is the sole Republican working with Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) on a compromise proposal which they had planned to unveil Monday. In a letter to leaders of the effort to enact climate and energy legislation, Graham wrote,...

(snip) McCain went on to discuss border concerns, expressing his frustration regarding the recent death of Douglas area rancher Robert Krentz, who authorities suspect was killed by drug smugglers. “The border is not secure and there is an increase in border violence. There have been more than 14,000 people killed in Mexico in the past few years. These include government officials, police and three Americans,” he explained. McCain’s believes a physical fence is what is needed, not the virtual fence with surveillance UAV’s (unmanned aerial vehicles) that he believes are ineffective. “The bad news is that the government has contracted...

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, told an exuberant crowd at an immigration rally Saturday in Las Vegas that Congress would start work on immigration overhaul as soon as lawmakers return this week. “We’re going to have comprehensive immigration reform now,” he said in a speech to more than 6,000 people, mostly immigrants. “We need to do this this year,” Reid said, drawing cheers from the crowd. Reid told the crowd he believes he has 56 Senate votes in support of the legislation. He outlined legislation that would include border security measures and a temporary guest worker program. To gain...

(snip) I know the answer. It's my fault. It's because of me, and tens of millions of other Americans just like me. We create the demand for illegal immigrant labor not because of anything we do but because of all the things that we will not do -- at any wage. Even as someone who juggles several jobs, I have to admit that my work ethic -- especially for hard, physical labor -- is a distant second to that of my immigrant grandfather who came from Mexico legally in the early 1900's. My grandfather was a farm worker who would...

COCHISE COUNTY - News 4 has confirmed that a well-known rancher in Southeastern Arizona has died. Investigators say Rob Krentz was found shot to death Saturday night near his ranch. Saturday morning Krentz reportedly left the ranch on a quad and called home a short time later to report an illegal immigrant, whom he thought was in need of medical attention. That was the last time anyone heard from him. Investigators located Krentz alongside his dog who we understand had been shot. Krentz leaves behind and wife and 3 children. According to the Arizona Farming and Ranching Hall of...

Campaign staff and volunteers of Sen. John McCain and his former vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin are preparing for the pair’s appearance at Mesa’s Dobson High School on Saturday. A spokesman for the camp offered a bit of advice for those wanting to get in: “Folks should get there early,” said Brian Rogers, McCain’s communications director.The event is free, on a first-come, first-served basis and does not require a ticket. (snip) Also speaking at a rally in Tucson on Friday, the appearances are McCain and Palin’s first ones together at a public event since their concession speech in the...

Yesterday, I attended the so-called "March for America" in Washington, DC with two fellow YWC members. We wanted to see the constituency for "comprehensive immigration reform" ourselves. The MSM has already leapt into action to put a pro-amnesty spin on the rally. We are told "a few demonstrators waved flags from other countries." That's not what I saw. YWC shot about 200 photos of the rally and an hour of footage with two video cameras. I've uploaded all our photos to Flickr here, here, and here. The videos we shot will be uploaded to YouTube later this afternoon. We caught...

The lone Republican senator inclined to support the Obama administration's bid to pass a major immigration overhaul said Friday that if a healthcare bill passes this weekend, the immigration effort is dead for the year. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is considered a crucial player in the immigration debate -- a Republican prepared to cross party lines and vote for a bill that would provide a path to legal status for the 11 million people living in the U.S. illegally. Graham has spent months working with Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to draft an immigration bill. The two met...

Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) unveiled their bipartisan blueprint for comprehensive immigration reform Thursday, a move hailed by President Barack Obama as progress on an issue for which he has been criticized for ignoring. “The American people deserve more than empty rhetoric and impractical calls for mass deportation. We urge the public and our colleagues to join our bipartisan efforts in enacting these reforms,” the Senators said in a Washington Post editorial posted online Thursday. The Schumer-Graham outline entails four key components: a biometric Social Security identification card for employment verification; strengthened border security and interior law...

This weekend, dozens of Southern Californians plan to march in Washington for immigration reform, joining thousands of activists from around the country. Today, a different group of Southern Californians – members of the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce – heard from a U.S. senator who took a lot of political heat for his efforts at immigration reform. The question arose at lunch during the Chamber’s annual lobbying trip to Washington. What did Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona think the U.S. should do about the “flood of immigrants” “running over” California? McCain cosponsored the last major immigration reform bill with...

Senator Lindsey Graham, ever the faithful follower of uber-RINO John McCain, scored three RINO initiatives in just one week. Reminiscent of the "the band's getting back together" scenes from the movie "Blues Brothers", Graham and McCain reached back to the good old days of bipartisan shafting of conservative judicial nominees and offered the Democrats another "Gang of Fourteen"--this time to shaft the public with a bipartisan Obamacare bill. The offer must have been tempting to the Democrats who remember how "bipartisan leadership" from Graham and McCain spiked conservative guns when the Republicans were in the majority in the Senate. But...

WASHINGTON -- Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Chuck Schumer of New York discussed major immigration reforms Thursday with President Barack Obama at a White House meeting. Graham, a Republican, waded back into a political minefield on a controversial issue that has prompted conservative activists across the nation to vilify him since he helped lead a failed Senate bid to overhaul the immigration system in 2007. Obama has faced more recent criticism from Latino lawmakers and advocacy groups accusing him of failing to deliver on a 2008 campaign promise to help the 12 million undocumented workers in the United...

President Obama said Thursday that he would proceed with an overhaul of the immigration system this year if he could attract substantial Republican support. But a leading Republican who supports an overhaul said a bill could not go forward if the president used a legislative shortcut sidestepping Republicans to pass his health care bill. Obama spent most of the afternoon in meetings on immigration, including one with Senator Charles Schumer [D-NY]. and Senator Lindsey Graham [R-SC]. who have been holding closed-door sessions over the last six months to draw up a bill to revamp the immigration system. The White House...

I cannot tell how much of this outrage about Sarah Palin's endorsement of McCain is feigned by those who do not wish her well. It is not principally to those folks that this post is directed. To those conservatives who are genuinely disappointed by Sarah Palin's decision to support McCain, let me say that I think Rush and Mark Levin understand it and have said that it is a question of loyalty and that loyalty is a virtue. That makes sense to me and, personally, I would be a little put off if she did otherwise, since it would look...

An anti-gang officer in Hemet, Calif., discovered a deadly device attached to his car Friday — in what appears to be the third attempt in the past two months to injure or kill members of an anti-gang unit in southwest Riverside County, MyFoxLA.com reported. An officer with the Hemet/San Jacinto Gang Task Force called for back-up after discovering a threatening device next to his car, parked outside of a store. Authorities cordoned off the intersection near the vehicle while a bomb unit disabled the instrument.

It is early evening on Capitol Hill, and I am sitting with Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, who, along with John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, is trying to craft a new energy bill — one that could actually win 60 votes. What is interesting about Graham is that he has been willing — courageously in my view — to depart from the prevailing G.O.P. consensus that the only energy policy we need is “drill, baby, drill.” What brought you around, I ask? Graham’s short answer: politics, jobs and legacy. We start with politics. The Republican Party today has...

Today, with the help of Big Hollywood’s Leigh Scott, I begin my tribute series to Governor Sarah Palin. Scott Leigh, a horror film-maker reminiscent of my not-always-so-hard-times spent with Larry Cohen, had this to say about what the Left fears about Sarah Palin: What they fear is that Palin would actually stick to fiscally conservative principles. She would reform the tax laws to make them fair and rational. She would clip the influence of labor unions. She would end the unholy alliance of Big Government and Big Business. She may actually extend women’s rights to choose to include how they...

(snip) On immigration: McCain stressed the importance of securing the border and establishing a legal temporary-worker program. Foreign workers could take jobs that Americans wouldn't want - such as agricultural jobs in Yuma that go begging - with the burden on employers to quit employing each person at the end of some specified time. Kyl faulted the administration for short-changing border enforcement. (snip)