Police lobby Congress for tougher immigration enforcement

04:02 AM CDT on Wednesday, September 10, 2008
By Jeff McShan / 11 News

It was an early Sunday morning in June when Houston Police Officer Gary Gryder was struck and killed by a driver. Hunt Troung drove through a construction barricade.

Gryder's fellow officer Joe Pyland was severely injured in the collision.

It was the second time in two years that an HPD officer died while in duty. In 2006, Officer Rodney Johnson was gunned down after making a routine traffic stop and arrest.

In both cases, the suspects accused of killing the officers are illegal immigrants.

So, on Tuesday, Johnson's widow, Pyland and Houston's police union president Gary Blankenship flew to Washington. On Thursday – which incidentally will be Sept. 11 – they will testify before a U.S. House judiciary committee on the subject of illegal immigrants.

“And we need some federal funding. We are 1,500 police officers short in Houston,â€