A third law enforcement officer in one of the nation’s biggest sanctuary cities has been shot by an illegal immigrant who was protected by a don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration policy during previous police encounters.
The Houston Police Department’s longtime rule prohibiting officers from questioning suspects about immigration status has cost the department dearly in the last few years. Two officers have been murdered and one shot in the face by illegal immigrants with previous records.
The latest shooting occurred just last week when an illegal alien from Mexico killed an undercover police officer during a sting operation. The illegal immigrant (Roberto Pedroza Carrillo) had been deported about a decade ago and ticketed by Houston police at least four times since 2002, most recently in November, according to a news report.
Last month another Houston officer was shot in the face by an illegal immigrant drug lord while attempting to serve a narcotics warrant at a house. The illegal alien from El Salvador had been arrested five times for possession or delivery of drugs, including three times after an immigration judge granted him voluntary departure in 2001.
In 2007 Houston officer Rodney Johnson was murdered during a routine traffic stop by a Mexican illegal that had been deported in 2004 for molesting a child and subsequently arrested for driving intoxicated, driving with a suspended license and failing to stop and provide information after an automobile accident. The illegal alien, Juan Quintero, shot Officer Johnson four times in the back of the head with a 9 millimeter handgun hidden in the waistband of his pants.
Even before this month’s murder, the Houston Police Officer’s Union called on city leaders to reverse the department’s 17-year-old don’t-ask-don’t-tell immigration measure because it had led to the brutal shootings of two officers. Both the mayor and the police chief refuse to change the sanctuary policy because they consider it crucial to policing city neighborhoods.
Texas has several major sanctuary cities—including Austin, El Paso, Fort Worth, Dallas and San Antonio—that forbid law enforcement agencies from asking suspects about their immigration status. Houston, the state’s largest city, is estimated to have nearly half a million illegal immigrants who will remain protected under the law.
Many police departments nationwide also have similar measures and Judicial Watch has sued several—including Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and the District of Columbia—for not complying with federal immigration law. In many instances, these police departments have released violent illegal immigrants that have gone on to commit atrocious crimes.