Posted on 09/25/2006 11:32:13 AM PDT by VU4G10
Sept. 25, 2006 — The shooting of a Houston police officer has sparked a new battle over immigration.
Juan Leonardo Quintero, an illegal immigrant, has been charged with killing a Houston police officer last week after a routine traffic stop.
Police Chief Harold Hurtt blamed the federal government for failing to secure U.S. borders.
Quintero allegedly shot Officer Rodney Johnson four times in the head while in handcuffs in the back seat of his patrol car.
Johnson arrested Quintero during a routine traffic stop for speeding but apparently missed the suspect's gun in a pat-down search.
Following the shooting, a video showed Houston police officers pulling open the back doors of Johnson's patrol car and yanking the suspect out of the back seat.
"It's very easy to make a mistake. I am not saying a mistake was made," one Houston police officer said. "Unfortunately, we are in the business where a mistake can kill you."
The suspect should not have been in the United States.
Quintero was deported in 2004 after a conviction for indecency with a child.
"The subject was deported, and yet he came back, so if the government fulfilled their responsibility of protecting the border we would probably not be standing here today," Hurtt said.
The Houston Police Department has been struggling this year to deal with the influx of Katrina evacuees and an immigration problem that is only getting worse.
Border Patrol said thousands of illegal immigrants crossed into the United States each month.
Johnson received a commendation for valor for pulling several children from a burning building.
He leaves behind a wife who is also a police officer and their five children
Is Houston a sanctuary city ?
Yes, Police Chief Harold Hurtt is against local enforcement of immigration laws.
Sad. Sad. Why doesn't the public wake up? What's it going to take to solidify our resolve against this invasion?
Houston is a full fledged war zone. Just in the last month I have had 1 encounter with MS13 gang punks(I profiled them that way anyway), 2 encounters with Katrina evacuees (LA accents)and one dead body behind my house (I actually heard the gunshots that killed him.
If you ain't pack'n when you leave your house in Houston, good luck to you.
What part of Houston are you in?
Police commonly enforce most other federal laws. Why not immigration? Think they'll let you slide on a bank robbery, which is a federal crime?
I live over by Briar Forest (aka San Felipe) and Gessner(in that general area). On the good side. Just a stones throw away is a very seedy section (most of Houston is like this anyway).
This scum was not only an illegal immigrant, he was a convicted sex offender, a DWI and had been deported.
You are in the real hot area. I moved from there to Tomball and we haven't been hit as hard as SW Houston was. Shame Houston used to be such a grand city.
You're absolutely correct, I don't know what it will take to wake people(republicans and democrats) up on this issue.
Oppose the "One Face at the Border" initiative Email your Members of Congress asking them to oppose the "One Face at the Border" initiative
In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the creation of a new Customs and Border Protection Officer (CBPO) position and the “One Face at the Border” initiative. Under this plan, a new position, the CBPO, would combine the duties of legacy inspectors from Customs, the Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) into a single front-line border security position. With 41,000 employees, CBP is in control of 317 official ports-of-entry for travelers and cargo.
Essentially, the “One Face at the Border” initiative was aimed at unifying the inspection process that travelers entering the United States have to go through. Instead of making three stops – an Immigration Inspector, a Customs Inspector and an Agriculture Inspector – travelers would meet with a single primary inspections officer who was specially trained to do the job of all three.
Consolidating these three organizations has caused logistical and institutional chaos and has taken attention away from critical homeland security priorities. It is true that all three of these organizations deal with front line border and port security, but they do so in very different capacities.
Please email your Members of Congress asking them to oppose the failed "One Face at the Border" initiative and support a detailed, independent review of the proposal.
Thirty years ago, so was New Orleans. Ugly trend, isn't it?
The Houston cops should be brainstorming for ideas on how best to pit the Katrina refugees against the illegals, then just stand back out of the way until the lead stops flying.
Wow!! I lived on Vanderpool from 1987-1992 (off Gessner between Memorial/Briar Forest). Where is the seedy part you reference?
He was deported in 1999, not in 2004 as the story says.
Well, now Texas gets to pay room and board in prison for this pederast cop killer for the rest of his life, plus no doubt another million or so for the trial and the appeals.
Or, since it's Texas, maybe they'll put him away for good in a few years.
And this from Denver:
Charges filed in Colo. dragging death (Jose Luis Rubi-Nava, 'illegal immigrant' ?)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1707949/posts
And this also from Denver:
Gomez-Garcia Found Guilty Of Second-Degree Murder
http://cbs4denver.com/local/local_story_258182903.html
Why can't they all go pick those rotting apples and pears in California and Washington State?
Still *is* - he just throws his hands up in the air and says "It's not my yob. It's the feds'." He means Bush and Rove, of course. I kid you not.
He really puts his hands in the air and says "What you gonna do? Eh?"
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