Sweeping immigration-reform bill to Oklahoma governor

Sweeping immigration-reform bill to Oklahoma governor
Described as nation's most sweeping attempt to deny jobs, benefits to illegals

Legislation described as the nation’s most sweeping attempt to deny jobs and public benefits to illegal immigrants was sent to Gov. Brad Henry’s desk Tuesday.

State lawmakers urged Henry to sign the measure into law after it was approved in a bipartisan 84-14 vote by the state House. The bill was approved 41-6 by the Senate last month.

“The people of Oklahoma are very strongly for this bill,” said House Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah.

Immigrant groups said the bill is a wrong-headed approach to stop illegal immigration and urged Henry to veto it.

“It’s not going to control immigration. It’s going to create a long-term sour view in the Latino community,” said Ed Romo, vice president of the League of United Latin American Citizens.

“It’s targeting the Latinos, the Hispanics, and nobody else,” said Ed Madrid, state director of LULAC.

Pat Fennell, executive director of the Latino Community Development Agency in Oklahoma City, said the state does not have the authority to supersede federal immigration law.

“It opens the door for all kinds of litigation,” Fennell said. “We’re going to be paying the consequences of this silly bill.”

Henry, who has previously said he believes illegal immigration is a federal issue, has not decided whether he will sign or veto the measure, a spokesman said.

“Gov. Henry supports responsible and effective immigration reform, but he will withhold judgment on this particular bill until he has had an opportunity to review the final version,” communications director Paul Sund said.

The measure contains the toughest state guidelines on dealing with illegal immigration in the nation, said Mike Hethmon, general counsel of the Immigration Reform Law Institute in Washington.

Lawmakers in Oklahoma and other states have proposed immigration bills because of the federal government’s failure to control the flow of undocumented immigrants, now estimated at 12 million nationwide, Hethmon said.

The Oklahoma bill builds on measures passed by other states but has a stronger focus on deterring unauthorized employment, he said.

“It lays the foundations for state and local action in a very broad scope of public activities,” Hethmon said.

The legislation addresses the root cause of illegal immigration — exploitation of illegal immigrant labor, he said. Among other things, the bill contains employment, labor law and civil rights provisions to protect citizens and legal immigrants who lose their jobs at companies that employ illegal immigrants to perform the same or similar work.

“Stealing American jobs is now a civil rights violation in Oklahoma,” Hethmon said.

The measure targets employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens in order to gain a competitive advantage. Key elements of the bill focus on determining worker eligibility, including technology called the Basic Pilot program, which screens Social Security numbers to make sure they are real and that they match up with the person’s name.

Created by the federal government to verify the eligibility of government employees, use of the program is mandated in Georgia, said the author of the Oklahoma legislation, Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore. It is free to employers who voluntarily sign up, he said.

Public agencies will be required to use the program beginning Nov. 1 and private companies by July 1, 2008.

Mike Seney, senior vice president of operations for The State Chamber, a business and industry group in Oklahoma City, said the group initially opposed the bill but took a neutral position after changes were approved in the Senate.

The changes widened so-called “safe harbor” provisions that allow employers to avoid sanctions for hiring undocumented immigrants if they use the Basic Pilot program and other methods to verify worker eligibility, Seney said.

“All of that goes out the window if you are participating in one of these safe harbor areas,” he said.

Terrill said the measure would limit state driver’s licenses and identity cards to citizens and legal immigrants and would require state and local agencies to verify the citizenship and immigration status of applicants for state or local benefits.

“The land of opportunity is becoming the land of entitlement,” Rep. Rex Duncan, R-Sand Springs, said while debating for the bill.

The measure would not affect emergency medical and humanitarian services, such as visits to hospital emergency rooms and enrollment in public schools, that are required by federal law.

Terrill said the Federation of American Immigration Reform estimates that illegal immigrants costs state taxpayers up to $200 million a year in public benefits and other resources.

“We have several thousand illegal aliens coming across our border every day,” Terrill said. “It is a situation that is not sustainable or desirable.”