Thread: Illegal Immigrant charged in death of Houston Policeman

The gun involved here seems to belong to Mrs. Quintero whom is apparently legal. I hope that she gets prosecuted to the full extent of law for supplying a firearm to an illegal alien.

the HC today has a lot of stories on this incident. He is charged with capital murder, and the wife is a legal resident. Apparently the article of what she said is that he is now in the hands of God and the police that what he did was wrong and that he has to pay the consequences. She is not trying to defend his actions. Apparently her gun was kept locked and he took it with out asking her (she is a security guard). HPD's chief has already stated that if the gov't would protect the borders that this would not have occured. There is also a lot of anger since laws in Houston don't allow police to question about immigration status. The guy said he was afraid of being deported so he shot the guy(which is stupid beccause now he is going to jail for life, or in Texas probably death penalty). It is pretty sad here in Houston there is a lot of coverege, and I think it will affect the immigrant communities here greatly, because many people in Houston were a little indiffirent about the illegal immigration issue. His daughter went to the same high school I went to.

Illegal Immigration - The View
From A Police Officer's Car - Pt 1
Guest Commentary
By Frosty Wooldridge
MICH.com
1-13-4
http://www.rense.com/general47/polic.htm

If our laws are routinely disobeyed by illegal aliens at the federal level and then, at the state level-and finally, at the local level with impunity-at what point does a nation move toward lawlessness as the norm? What is the definition of law? How long before it breaks down to the point whereby so many disregard it that a community can't function or functions in fear.

I looked up in the 2005 Florida Law Enforcement Handbook about illegals and found it under Legal Guidelines.

"In 1967, the United States ratified the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, April 24, 1963, art. 36,21 U.S.T. 77, T.I.A.S. No. 6820. This treaty mandates that foreign nationals who are arrested or detained be advised of their right to consult with members of their consulate or consular officials. In some instances it is mandatory that the arresting or detaining authority notify the nearest consular officials of the arrest or detention of the foreign national, regardless of the national's wishes. The provision of this treaty must be applied to the arrest or detention of foreign nationals who are signatories to the treaty regardless of whether the United States extends diplomatic recognition to that nation, e.g., Cuba."
"For purposes of consular notification, a foreign national is defined as any person who is not a United States citizen. This includes resident aliens and foreign nationals ILLEGALLY in the United States. When a foreign national is arrested, officers should take the following steps:
1. Determine the foreign national's country. Normally, this is the country on whose passport or other travel documents the foreign national travels.
2. If the foreign national is from one of the countries with which the United States has a bilateral agreement requiring mandatory notification in the event of an arrest, the officer must immediately notify the consulate or representative of the foreign national's government.
3. If the foreign national is from a country with which the United States does not have a bilateral agreement requiring mandatory notification, the officer must still offer the arrestee the opportunity to have their consulate or interest section notified.
4. All foreign national arrestees must be afforded the option of consular notification, regardless of whether the United States maintains diplomatic relations with their countries. For example, if an Iraqi, Iranian or Cuban national is arrested, that arrestee must be given the opportunity to have their respective interest sections in Washington, D.C. notified.
5. Officers shall make written documentation of the notification of a consular official if the foreign national is from a mandatory notification country. If the foreign national is not from a mandatory notification country, the officer should document that the foreign national was advised of his or her right to have a consular official notified, and whether or not notification was made or refused by the foreign national.
6. Officers must realize that subjects still have to be advised of their Miranda rights where appropriate. Advising foreign nationals of the right to have a consular official notified of their arrest or detention, or the mandatory notification of a consular official, must be done in addition to, and not as a substitute for, Miranda warnings."


From what I get from this is that you have to ask if they are illegal to follow this federal policy or else you are denying them their rights. I took several mandatory class while completing my Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice which discussed federal and state laws. One thing that was repeated in several of my classes was that states can make their laws tougher but cannot make federal laws more lenient. Thus I don't understand where states can come up with laws regarding police officers not being able to ask a person's if they are legally or illegally in the country. I wonder if the Department of Justice is aware about this. The more I think about it the more I think I will contact them and ask them about it. If I get a reponse I will inform you of it. [quote:3q1q2j5q]

[/quote:3q1q2j5q]

Excellent. Someone needs to do some explaining.

I will keep fighting!

I did a little reading on this article 36 requiring consular notification. I imagine it was quite a concern when first adopted. However, through the years the US courts have pretty much pulled the teeth out of it. The document does not create individual rights. People have tried to use it like they do the falure to Mirandize, but it wasn't successful. A US state is pretty much immune to an action from a foreign government under it. What's left of it is enough meat for diplomats to argue over. It's not very likely that Mexico will cause a stir and require law enforcement to check the status of all their invaders in this country. The US government has used the notification provisions recently as its' justification to pander and supply information to Mexico. Seems like they tried to play this thing against Sheriff Joe Arapao. iirc

"Officer's death won't change immigrant policy, Houston police chief says"

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/n ... rshot.html

"Houston's police chief is standing behind his policy of not enforcing immigration laws after an illegal immigrant was charged with killing a police officer during a traffic stop.

...Hurtt's policy prohibits officers from questioning suspects about their residency. "

His actions as chief are unacceptabel. I know that the city will not fire him over this as it probably is no different than Miami where you have a lot of Hispanics in municipal and county government.
All I can say is that the police officers there will definitely be more vigilant especially when approaching anyone that looks Hispanic.