Thread: Employer harboring immigrant accused of killing cop UPDATE

The complaint said Quintero-Perez's wife, Theresa Quintero, a U.S. citizen, reported Camp listed her, not her husband, as an employee.

She's just as guilty as Camp. Fine her and put her in jail too.

Did anyone notice two of our members mentioned in the above article?
MyAmerica and jimpasz

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-2859--0-0.html

Jan. 11, 2008, 12:46PM
Worksite enforcement debate flares
Landscaper's arrest spurs strong pro, con feelings

By JAMES PINKERTON
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

A HISTORY OF AIDING WORKER

• August 1998: Robert Camp posts a $10,000 cash bond for Juan Leonardo Quintero, who was charged with indecency with a child.
• March 3, 1999: Quintero is convicted of a sexual offense with a minor.

• May 7, 1999: Quintero is deported from the U.S.

• Nov. 26, 1999: Quintero boards a Southwest Airlines flight from Phoenix to Houston after hiring a smuggler to re-enter the U.S. through Arizona. Quintero's wife tells investigators her husband told her Camp purchased the ticket.

• Sept. 21, 2006: Quintero is accused of fatally shooting Houston police officer Rodney Johnson in the head during a traffic stop in which Quintero was driving a company truck owned by Camp. Quintero is later charged with capital murder.

• Oct. 4, 2006: ICE agents receive information alleging that Camp, of Camp Landscaping, knowingly employed Quintero in violation of federal law.

Source: ICE affidavit by Senior Special Agent Gary Renick
The high-profile harboring case against a landscaping company owner who employed an illegal immigrant charged with murder in the slaying of a Houston police officer has heated up the debate over worksite enforcement.

Prosecutors hailed the arrest of owner Robert L. Camp as an example of the consequences of harboring or employing illegal immigrants, but some Houston construction officials say the arrest won't deter the hiring of undocumented workers.

Other critics questioned the fairness of linking the officer's slaying with Camp's role in allegedly harboring the illegal immigrant accused of killing him. The case raises complicated questions of how much responsibility should residents bear if they hire or help an illegal immigrant who later commits a serious crime.

Camp, 47, of Deer Park, faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of harboring longtime employee Juan Leonardo Quintero and encouraging him to return unlawfully to Houston following his 1999 deportation. The Mexican citizen faces capital murder charges, allegedly gunning down Houston police officer Rodney Johnson in September 2006, after the officer stopped him for a traffic violation while driving one of Camp's company trucks.

Camp's lawyer, Jimmy Ardoin, declined to comment Thursday, and has advised his client to do the same.

Meanwhile, a leader in Houston's construction industry and a union official doubted the case would curtail the hiring of undocumented workers.

''I don't think it's going to slow down somebody hiring a day laborer, but it will have an effect if someone has a previous deportation," said Robert Wilkinson, executive director of the Independent Electrical Contractors Association in Houston, who stressed that his members do not condone violation of immigration laws.

Dale Wortham, president of the AFL-CIO council in Harris County, said the case was brought only because it involved an officer's death.

''Unfortunately, they took the time to go after this particular employer, and they should have been doing it all along," Wortham said.


Guidelines don't apply
Due to the agency's limited manpower and long list of law enforcement and customs duties, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said worksite enforcement cases are selected for their potential for widespread harm to the public.

''We look at places with critical infrastructure, where employees have access to sensitive areas," said Robert Rutt, the ICE special agent in charge in Houston. "Last year we executed criminal search warrants on a trash company, since the trucks have access to secure and sensitive facilities."

But in the Camp case the usual guidelines don't apply, Rutt said.

''A police officer died because someone hired an illegal alien," Rutt said. ''And when a person dies, a policeman, another public servant, or an average citizen, the normal prosecution thresholds are deviated from."

But there are those who say connecting the charge of harboring an illegal immigrant to Johnson's slaying is unfair.

''Trying to send the message that employers are somehow complicit in their employees' off-duty activities ... is classic over-reaching," said Michael A. Olivas, a veteran law professor at the University of Houston. ''This is a little like saying the Transportation Security Agen- cy, which had some undocumented workers on the payroll, would have been guilty if something had happened to an airline."

Olivas said it was ''absurd" to assign negligence to an employer.


Reaching a balance
Though Camp's prosecution was a high-profile case, Rutt said it does not signal a new crackdown on employers.

''ICE's focus is on national security and public safety, those are our top priorities," he said. ''We have limited resources, so we have to (reach) a balance."

Rutt said the agency concentrates on making cases against employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, and not just rounding up workers.

''They are economic migrants, and if you take away their ability to get employment, the immigration problem will solve itself for the most part," he said. ''Our biggest weakness is not the porous border, but employers hiring illegal aliens."

Worksite arrests by ICE agents have risen dramatically, according to agency statistics, which show criminal arrests — mostly company managers and contractors — jumped from 176 in fiscal 2005 to 863 in fiscal 2007.

And administrative arrests of undocumented workers in worksite raids have increased from 1,116 in fiscal 2005 to 4,077 in fiscal 2007.

james.pinkerton@chron.com

quote]"Every single time an illegal alien is arrested for a crime, police should be asking who their employer is and then also providing that information directly to ICE and ICE needs to take action," said "MyAmerica," on a forum run by Americans for Legal Immigration PAC. [/quote]

Althought it was attributed to me in the article, legalatina deserves the credit and recognition.

legalatina posted:

Every single time an illegal alien is arrested for a crime, police should be asking who their employer is and then also providing that information directly to ICE and ICE needs to take action. I'm so happy that this happened in this case. There are hundreds of thousands more just like it....

Every employer and every "advocacy" agency that assists an illegal in coming here, residing here, or working here or a combination of any of those, should be prosecuted.

Am so happy ALIPAC is being recognized and quoted in other media.
Congrates to both legalatina and jimpasz!

Fences make good neighbors.

Feb. 6, 2008, 6:17PM
Landscaper's immigration charges stem from HPD death
Federal grand jury indicts business owner on charges of harboring illegal immigrant charged in officer's death


By CINDY GEORGE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted a landscaping owner on immigration violations, accusing him of harboring an illegal immigrant who was later charged with capital murder in the death of a Houston police officer.

Robert Lane Camp, 47, was arrested last month on a criminal complaint that accuses him of taking significant steps to help Juan Leonardo Quintero remain on the job at Camp Landscaping in Deer Park before the September 2006 killing of officer Rodney Johnson.

Camp is charged with encouraging or inducing Quintero to enter the country illegally and later harboring the immigrant in the Houston area. Quintero worked for Camp for at least 11 years, according to an affidavit filed by the investigating immigration agent.

Camp appeared before a federal magistrate last month and posted $50,000 for his release.

The affidavit and indictment accuses the entrepreneur of a decade of assistance to Quintero. In August 1998, Camp posted a $10,000 bond for the immigrant after he was jailed on an indecency with a child charge and hired an attorney to defend him. After the worker was deported in May 1999, Camp sent him money in Mexico and later bought him a plane ticket from Phoenix to Houston after Quintero re-entered the U.S. illegally through Arizona. Camp then bought a home in Houston and rented it to Quintero, who is listed in federal court records as Juan Leonardo Quintero-Perez.

In September 2006, officer Johnson stopped a truck owned by Camp's company for a traffic violation and arrested Quintero after the worker could not provide a driver's license. As Johnson prepared a report in the front seat of his patrol car, Quintero pulled a pistol overlooked in a body search and shot Johnson four times in the head, police said.Quintero is scheduled for trial later this year.

If convicted, Camp faces up to 10 years in prison.

cindy.george@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5519957.html

Originally Posted by nntrixie

Wouldn't that be nice, Whatmattersmost.

We need to find some attorneys to do the work for us.

Of course, really I'm not sure you need an attorney just some people who know how to file papers and do research.

Maybe we could become our own lawyers - prison inmates do it.

ITA nntrixie The RICO Act would be a great start. I am starting to believe that will be the only way to stop illegal immigration. The key to all of this is hitting those who aid and abet where it hurts them the most: THEIR WALLETS.

With regard to filing/researching the issues: I've been "feeling out" a few attorneys to gauge reaction at my firm re: pro bono. I have to be careful in terms of who I approach so it's going to take me a little time.

Jury selection under way for accused cop killer

03:37 PM CDT on Monday, March 31, 2008

KHOU.com staff report

HOUSTON — Jury selection is underway in the trial of a man accused of killing a Houston police officer.

Juan Quintero allegedly shot officer Rodney Johnson to death during a traffic stop in 2006.

Quintero is an illegal immigrant.

His employer is also facing charges for hiring him.

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/ ... a559b.html

In one of the articles above...someone made the comment that an employer should NOT be responsible for what an illegal workier does on their own time....This guy was driving the landscapers truck....so he was on COMPANY time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And very much responsible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

in this case the employer should be held responsible because he is the one who got him the ticket from Phx back to houston so he could come back to work for him


ANYONE from houston or deer park area know if CAMP Landscaping is still in business. and can someone go sit out from and see if the people driving off in the trucks are white or black or hispanic.
this might tell us if he is still hiring illegals

March 31, 2008, 10:57PM
Jury selection begins in trial in Houston officer's killing
Illegal immigrant accused of killing a police officer


By BRIAN ROGERS
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

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Clean-shaven and well-coiffed, Juan Leonardo Quintero smiled politely at prospective jurors as a judge explained that prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the 34-year-old illegal immigrant in the shooting death of Houston police officer Rodney Johnson.

His once shaggy shoulder-length black hair now cut short, Quintero's bright yellow jail clothes were replaced by a blue button-down shirt and khaki slacks for the first day of jury selection, expected to last about a month.

He watched the proceedings with headphones on, as a court interpreter translated for him.

Quintero, a Mexican citizen, was in the U.S. illegally after being deported in 1999, according to court records.

On Sept. 21, 2006, Johnson stopped Quintero, who was driving a truck for the landscape company where he worked. Johnson arrested Quintero because he didn't have a driver's license, investigators have said.

As Johnson worked on a report in the front seat of the patrol car, Quintero pulled a pistol overlooked in a body search and shot the officer four times in the head, police said.

Opening statements are set for April 28. Prosecutors expect Quintero to plead not guilty by reason of insanity when he is formally arraigned at the opening of the trial.

Prospective jurors on Monday filled out a seven-page questionnaire then answered state District Judge Joan Campbell's questions about their feelings on the death penalty.

Designed to nail down the jurors' true feelings, the agree/disagree questions included, "I do not believe in capital punishment, but I do not believe it should be abolished" and "Capital punishment is wrong, but it is necessary in our imperfect civilization."

Campbell told the first 40 panelists to be interviewed that the trial would last three or four weeks.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys will spend days individually interviewing prospective jurors before calling another panel of 40.

brian.rogers@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 63750.html