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By Gary Blankinship
For starters, you should amend or scrap the 17-year-old Houston Police Department policy (General Order No. 500-5), which firmly states that "officers shall not inquire as to the citizenship status of any person, nor will officers detain or arrest any persons solely on the belief that they are in this country illegally."
It is outrageous to learn that, as recently as November of last year, you were fully aware that thousands of illegal immigrants eligible for deportation - all convicted felons like Joel Alfaro - were slipping through Houston's jails undetected by federal immigration officials.
You rightly noted the city of Houston "can't deport people;" but isn't that particularly true if the city policy you have repeatedly defended intentionally discourages our officers from reporting them?
We welcome your new support for the 287(g) program that lets HPD train and coordinate with federal immigration officials - and other new pledges of enhanced resources and cooperation - but you can do more. We also hope you will act immediately to change Houston's status as a so-called "sanctuary city" as outlined at http://www.houstontx.gov/moira/:
Eight Arrests Each!
"The policy of (Mayor's Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs) is to encourage access by all persons residing in the city of Houston, regardless of nation of birth or current citizenship status, to the full benefits, opportunities and services which are provided and administered by the city of Houston."
Why does this matter? A recent study by the Government Accountability Office found that the 55,322 criminal immigrants they tracked were arrested a total of at least 459,614 times - averaging over eight arrests per immigrant. The Department of Justice conducted its own research and found that the 73 criminal immigrants in their study group were arrested a total of 429 times - or roughly six arrests per immigrant.
For all of your good intentions, Mr. Mayor, the question has to be raised if this de facto "sanctuary" policy is attracting habitual criminals like Alfaro - or Juan Quintero, the illegal immigrant who shot and killed HPD officer Rodney Johnson in September 2006 - to our community.
Meanwhile, Gov. Perry, county and state leaders like you can and must do more as well. When you get right down to it, the integrity of our federal immigration system is largely dependent on the validity of documents issued by our state and county.
Every year, hundreds if not thousands of illegal immigrants enter Texas in broad daylight thanks to marriage fraud - to cite one example. For all of your hot rhetoric about border security, Governor, you rarely if ever mention the forms of immigration fraud you and the Legislature can actually help fix - and that, too, needs to change.
The bottom line, gentlemen, is that constantly pointing the finger of blame at Washington while kicking this can down the road is no way to fix this problem. Today, more than ever, we need real leadership, hard choices and a proactive new mindset at the state and local level.
Right now, our friend and colleague with 27 years of irreplaceable experience and selfless service is fighting for his life - a tragic testament to the failure of current policies.
But if local, county and state leaders treat this as the wake-up call on illegal immigration it surely is, then maybe - maybe - some good will come out of it after all.
Unilateral Increase
On Friday, March 20, HPOU Vice Presidents Ray Hunt, J. J. Berry and I met with Acting Human Resources Director Candy Aldridge and Gerri Walker to hear about Mayor White's unilateral health insurance rate increases he was implementing effective May 1, 2009.
Ms Aldridge laid out the following active employee and retired employee increases:
To say we were stunned by the Mayor's decision was an understatement. We figured that there would likely be some increases; however, we never dreamed he would dump it so heavily on officers who have retired from the department.
We visited with Ms. Aldridge about, at the very least, getting the city to charge medically retired officers who received catastrophic career-ending injuries active officer rates instead of retiree rates.
Heck, the truth is they shouldn't even be charged for health insurance, especially after all they have been forced to endure as a result of their sacrifice to the city.
Since our meeting with Ms. Aldridge, we have contacted Mayor White and requested a face-to-face meeting with him regarding our concerns about his unilateral decision associated with proposed health insurance premium increases. We are confident there is a more reasonable and fair way to deal with the issue. Hopefully, we will be able to make some much needed improvements to the Mayor's plan.
The 2009 Elections
In just over seven months the Houston City Council elections will be held. In addition to electing a new mayor and city controller, we will be electing five new council members in two city-wide and three district open seats as well as the current incumbents.
One of the elections on the November ballot will be greatly impacted by a special election that will be held this May to fill the unexpired term of former District H councilman and now Sheriff Adrian Garcia.
In the special election to replace Adrian, our Political Action Committee (PAC) screened candidates and elected to endorse current HPD Sgt. Ed Gonzales in his candidacy to serve as the District H city councilman. Sgt. Gonzales is an 18-year veteran of the department and he has garnered a considerable amount of significant support in his race.
Although our PAC Committee endorsed Sgt. Ed Gonzales, I feel I must also advise you of another member of our Union who is running for this same seat. Senior Police Officer Rick Rodriguez, who is assigned to CID, also is a candidate. Rick is the past president of the Organization of Spanish Speaking Officers (OSSO) and, like Ed, he is also a close friend.
It should go without saying how important it is for all of us to contribute to our PAC. It is the life blood of our political effectiveness and ability to help supporters of Houston police officers win their elections. Elected officials impact how we hire officers, compensate officers, discipline officers, and how we earn and protect our retirement when our careers have concluded.
Obviously, our ability to help elect good people to office is vital. Therefore, it's just as vital that we all do our part to support and maintain our organization's political clout and standing.
For the many officers who are PAC members, we thank you for your support. For those who are not, it's never too late to step up and help us make our organization even stronger.
On another note, I would like to congratulate Rosalinda Ybanez on her victory. Rosalinda was recently elected president of the Organization of Spanish Speaking Officers. I have worked closely with Rick Rodriguez as president in the past, as well as with Rosalinda, who always filled in for Rick during some meeting absences. Rosalinda is a hard worker and very deserving of her victory. I wish her well in her term as president.
In closing, I ask that each one of you keep Rick Salter, as well as his wife Sue and children, in your daily prayers. I have been at the hospital almost every day since Rick was shot and he truly has a wonderful, devoted and loving family.
Thanks again and Vaya Con Dios my friends!
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