More Mothers, Children To Be Released From Immigrant Detention

The Obama administration is making good on its promise to limit the detention of immigrant families by beginning to release women and children seeking asylum or other relief in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has begun reviewing the cases of families being held at its detention centers and will release some women and children while they pursue approval to remain in the U.S., a spokesman said Monday. "Going forward, ICE will generally not detain mothers with children, absent a threat to public safety or national security, if they have received a positive finding for credible or reasonable fear and the individual has provided a verifiable residential address," Richard Rocha, a spokesman for ICE, said in a statement.

Hillary Clinton On Donald Trump: 'Basta! Enough!'

The Democratic presidential candidate and former secretary of state used the Spanish word for "enough" while discussing Trump, the GOP hopeful who recently said Mexican immigrants are often criminals, rapists and drug smugglers. "It's shameful and no one should stand for it," Clinton said at the National Council of La Raza conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Democrats have been quick to cite Trump's comments as evidence that the Republican Party at best doesn't care about Latinos, and at worst thinks ill of them.

Martin O'Malley: 'Real Problem' With Republicans Goes Beyond Donald Trump

Donald Trump is "a hate-spewing character" and the rest of the GOP field isn't much better, Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley said Monday. O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland, is making immigration central to his campaign platform for the Democratic nomination. In a speech at the National Council of La Raza conference in Kansas City, Missouri, he ran through a spate of his immigration policy proposals, including creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Even Immigration Hardliner Tom Tancredo Is Giving Donald Trump Some Grief

Donald Trump's comments on immigration went too far -- at least in tone -- for one of the most hardline anti-unauthorized immigration Republicans, former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo. The Republican presidential candidate "needs to be a little bit more artful" when discussing immigration, Tancredo told the Denver Post in an interview published Sunday. "He should take lessons from me on how to talk to the press," Tancredo said.

Undocumented Immigrants Rally In New Orleans, Waiting For Relief

Hundreds of immigration advocates, some of them undocumented, waited hours outside a New Orleans courthouse on Friday as a federal appeals panel heard arguments on President Barack Obama's deportation relief. The deportation reprieve that Obama promised by executive action in November, which was set to begin this spring, isn't coming anytime soon.

Why Some Cities Don't Rush To Turn Over Undocumented Immigrants To The Feds

In March 2007, while Ron Teachman was serving as the chief of police in New Bedford, Massachusetts, immigration enforcement carried out one of its largest workplace raids in history. Hundreds of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and police raided the Michael Bianco Inc. leather goods factory on the suspicion that the owner was employing undocumented immigrants. ICE officers arrested 361 undocumented immigrants, mostly women from Central America, who had been working in abysmal conditions for little pay.

We Asked Lawmakers With Mexican Heritage About Donald Trump

When Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.) was a child, he remembers walking through the grocery store with his mother as judgmental whispers were directed her way. People would make quips about Mexicans having more kids than they could afford and say cruel things to his father that Cárdenas, the youngest of the bunch, left out when he translated for his dad. "My father worked with a first-grade education in this country and managed every single day without a hiccup," Cárdenas said.

Jeb Bush, Other Republicans Go After Funding For Sanctuary Cities

Funds should be withheld from jurisdictions that don't work with immigration agents, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Wednesday in the wake of a fatal shooting, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant in San Francisco. Bush said San Francisco is "the worst form" of a sanctuary city for refusing to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement before releasing individuals who have served their time. "That is outrageous," Bush said in an interview with the New Hampshire Union Leader editorial board.

Hillary Clinton Piles On San Francisco Officials, Putting Sanctuary Cities Under Even More Heat

After a deadly shooting in San Francisco, allegedly by a man who had been deported five times, lawmakers are calling on the county to drop its policy against cooperating with immigration enforcement. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton became the most high-profile Democrat to wade into the debate on Tuesday, telling CNN that San Francisco should have worked with agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), meanwhile, sent a letter on Tuesday to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee urging him to cooperate with ICE, implying the county's failure to do so allowed for the shooting of 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle, allegedly at the hands of a previously deported undocumented immigrant named Francisco Sanchez.

Lindsey Graham: Trying To Amend Constitution On Gay Marriage Would Hurt GOP

Pushing for a constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage would not only fail, but also hurt the Republican Party, 2016 presidential candidate and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) said Sunday. "You can put it in the [GOP] platform, but it will, in my view, hurt us in 2016, because it's a process that's not going to bear fruit," Graham said on NBC's "Meet the Press." The Supreme Court ruled against same-sex marriage bans on Friday, and many Republicans have dug in their heels and said they won't support marriage equality even if the highest court says it's a right.

Same-Sex Marriage Advocates Still Fighting To Change Minds

When same-sex marriage bans were overturned in the Supreme Court on Friday it marked a major victory for LGBT advocates. A majority of Americans support gay marriage, but about 40 percent still oppose it, and LGBT people still face discrimination in a number of other ways.

Mike Huckabee Explains How To Resist Gay Marriage Decision

The Supreme Court may have made marriage equality the law of the land, but that doesn't mean people should go along with it, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Sunday, comparing those opponents to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. "They will go the path of Dr. Martin Luther King, who in his brilliant essay the 'Letters from a Birmingham Jail' reminded us, based on what St. Augustine said, that an unjust law is no law at all," he continued.

Donald Trump Pressed On How 'Traditional' His 3 Marriages Are

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump didn't have much of an answer on Sunday when pressed about how he squares his own marriage history with his opposition to same-sex marriage. CNN "State of the Union" host Jake Tapper asked the business mogul to respond to criticisms over the twice-divorced Trump touting "traditional marriage." What do you say to a lesbian who's married, or a gay man who is married, who says, 'Donald Trump, what's traditional about being married three times?

Scalia Said To Ask The Nearest Hippie About Marriage, So We Did

In his dissent in the Supreme Court's decision to legalize gay marriage throughout the country, Justice Antonin Scalia rested part of his case on the notion that marriage was inherently a self-limiting proposition. The Huffington Post decided to take him up on that offer. Shortly after the opinion was made public, we went to the White House in search of the nearest drum circle.

Obama Heckled By Undocumented LGBT Activist Protesting Deportations

President Barack Obama was heckled Wednesday during a White House event honoring LGBT Pride Month by an undocumented LGBT activist protesting his administration's policies on deportation and undocumented LGBT immigrants. "Not one more deportation!" Jennicet Gutiérrez shouted, before being escorted from the room by Secret Service agents. Obama appeared angry at the interruption and addressed Gutiérrez directly.

Democratic Members Say Reforming Family Immigrant Detention Isn't Enough

Under intense scrutiny from congressional Democrats and human rights groups, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced plans Wednesday to make reforms to the family immigrant detention system to shorten the period women and children are detained. Eight Democratic House members who visited family detention centers in Texas on Tuesday told reporters soon after Johnson's announcement that they appreciate the response, but don't think it goes far enough. "I understand that DHS is making some initiatives to try to soften the situation in these two detention centers and others, but quite frankly, I don't care how much lipstick you put on it," Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Bernie Sanders: It's Time For Immigration Reform

Critics Say Amenities Don't Make Up For Psychological Damage Done At Family Immigrant Detention Centers

Sister Kathleen Erickson remembers watching a soccer game at a family immigrant detention center in Dilley, Texas, while a detainee recounted watching the dead bodies of her mother and brother being taken out of a house after they were killed by gang members in Honduras. At the same soccer field on another day, a woman told Erickson about being held by a gang in Mexico for three weeks while she and her daughter attempted to make their way to the U.S. The gang members did "terrible things" to her, the woman said, but she was glad they left her daughter alone. Erickson, who served as the Dilley detention center's interim chaplain for two months this spring, said listening to the women's stories was surreal.

Hillary Clinton: U.S. Must 'Face Hard Truths' On Race And Violence

A day after nine people were shot and killed in a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton urged the country to "face hard truths about race, violence, guns and division," including hateful rhetoric directed at immigrants. "When I hear words of hatred and anger directed at any of our fellow human beings, I ask myself, what is motivating that?" she said in a speech at the National Association of Latino Elected Officials conference in Las Vegas. Clinton began her speech by addressing the shooting by a white gunman at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Mark Zuckerberg Makes Big Donation To Help Dreamers

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced Wednesday that they donated $5 million to give scholarships to undocumented young people in the Bay Area. The donation will fund scholarships for more than 400 so-called Dreamers, who are in the U.S. without authorization after coming to the country as children, through a program called TheDream.US. Launched last year, TheDream.US offers money for Dreamers to pursue higher education. "America was founded as a nation of immigrants," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.