Officer Killed
Our Failed Immigration Policy
By Daniel Muniz

In Houston Texas, police officer Rodney Johnson was brutally gunned down while performing a routine traffic stop. He was shot in the head while sitting in his patrol car. The assailant who was detained in the backseat of the car still had a handgun tucked in his waistband so he pulled it out and shot Johnson.

Prior to this incident, this murderer also had a rap sheet.

In the past, he was charged with indecency with a child and was convicted. In addition to that sex crime, he has also been arrested for driving while intoxicated. His record includes failing to stop and give information following an automobile accident and for driving with a suspended driver’s license.

He is not exactly a model citizen but the real problem is that he is not even a citizen.

Juan Leonardo Quintero was deported as a convicted felon for the child indecency charge. Apparently, he made his way back to the United States and eventually committed more crimes which resulted in the violent death of a police officer.

The Houston police chief, Harold Hurtt, insists that absolutely nothing is going to change with police procedure because his department does not allow officers to question anyone about their citizenship status. Even though this is an unfortunate tragedy, Hurtt is adamant in his belief that protecting the border and deporting illegal aliens is a job that belongs to the federal government instead of local law enforcement.

Sadly, police departments are caught between a rock and a hard place.

There are over 12 million illegal aliens in this country with many more of them pouring in every day. Even if a city wanted to crack down on the people who are here in this country illegally, they simply do not have resources or the infrastructure to effectively do the job right. And it would take a lot of money for any municipality to aggressively tackle this problem.

Even if they did, what would the federal government do about it?

For the most part, federal agencies will probably not do much to the illegal immigrants other than deport them or release them back into the general public. The bottom line is that they are not going to get punished.

And the illegal aliens already know this which is why they continue to brazenly flout the law.

Even though Quintero is a convicted felon for a heinous crime, he was able to cross the border again with ease and live in just about any American city of his choosing. And like many other illegal immigrants, he can get a driver’s license and enjoy many of the other local, state, and federal governmental services and benefits.

Overall, people simply do not respect the laws that are never enforced.

And regardless of which party is in the White House or controlling Congress, our federal government has absolutely no appetite to enforce existing immigration laws or implement tough measures to tighten security at our border. There is just not enough political will from either party to get serious about the immigration problem so illegal aliens will continue to take full advantage of this state of flux while it exists.

It obviously doesn’t matter if some of these illegal immigrants are serial killers, violent thugs, or child molesters.

On the other hand, I am very uncomfortable with local police departments acting like border patrol agents.

My colleagues who are white may not care much at all but since I am a brown skinned Hispanic, it will be people like me who will be questioned about legal residency status regardless of the fact that my dad and many of my relatives have served in the military and fought in foreign wars. Although the ancestry of my family does originate in Mexico, it was well over a century ago so I am not exactly thrilled about ever being questioned by the police about that.

However, I don’t want to unfairly generalize law enforcement because most street cops are well trained professionals who are in a tough demanding line of work. And much of their effort is unappreciated by the public so I do want to limit my criticisms.

Although I disagree with the Houston police chief, he does have legitimate point that the issue of illegal aliens is a national problem and it ought to be dealt with by the federal government.

And the bottom line is that a sex offender and violent hoodlum like Quintero should not even be in this country after he was already deported.

Nevertheless, with the enforcement of our immigration laws as flimsy as they currently are, convicted felons and other criminals will have no problem returning to the United States. And there are even plenty of private organizations and local governmental entities who are more than willing to help illegal aliens settle down.

Policeman Rodney Johnson should never have been murdered by someone who was already deported but until this country finally gets serious about tightening up our border and clamping down on illegal immigration, more violent crimes like this are going to continue to happen.

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