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Laws in Arizona and Oklahoma cracking down on employers who hire illegal immigrants are getting mixed reviews regarding their effectiveness. Since illegal immigrants are not registered anywhere as such, it is impossible to get accurate numbers, so estimates are done largely based on opinion.
Earlier this year, Sonora, Mexico and the Houston, TX area began appealing for relief, claiming that the influx of those fleeing legislation in both states was creating hardships for their welfare systems. The complaints from Mexico came only about two weeks after the Arizona legislation became effective, and Houston was complaining within less than three months.
The question here, is whether the hardships endured by the welfare agencies were reactive or proactive – were they an actual result of sudden mass migration out of Arizona and Mexico? Or were they simply anticipating what New Jersey Rev. Miguel Rivera, a latino-rights activists refers to as “ethnic cleansing“?
The Northwest Arkansas Democrat and Gazette interviewed folks on both sides of the Oklahoma-Arkansas border, and reports that there may not quite be the “shock and awe” anticipated with OK HB 1804’s immigration reform becoming effective:
Along Arkansas’ western border, school districts report no influx of Hispanic students. In eastern Oklahoma, landlords, school administrators and builders said they see few, if any, signs of a large-scale migration.
“I was expecting a doomsday scenario,” said Paul Kane, chief executive of the Home Builders Association of Greater Tulsa. But the Nov. 1 effective date came and went with no contractors calling in to report a shortage of framers or roofers, he said.
“A lot of the hysteria was just that,” Kane concluded. “It was hysteria.” Rivaled only by Arizona for putting up a hard front against illegal immigration, Oklahoma has made it a felony to drive an illegal alien to work or to rent an apartment to an illegal alien….(more)
So, why hasn’t there been the anticipated change? What about the tens of thousands of illegal immigrants that were predicted to flee to surrounding states and Mexico in search of jobs and government aid?
Part of the problem may be that Oklahoma business owners have been intimidated by the threat of being sued at the Federal level for discrimination if they try to obey the law at the local level.
The Tulsa World reported on Monday:
Oklahoma’s immigration law was one of the first passed by a state and is viewed by some as the most stringent.
It already has drawn a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and local chambers in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, which are asking the court to bar the state from implementing provisions on verifying eligibility for workers and authorization status of independent contractors.
Those provisions, the lawsuit claims, place an unreasonable and unfair burden on Oklahoma businesses.
As the Democrat and Gazette concluded:
Observers say immigrants are staying because they realize that the get-tough law is only as tough as its enforcement…Police statewide have not adopted a proactive enforcement posture that includes making workplace raids. “Once they realized Oklahoma had not turned into a Gestapo state, they thought they would come on home,” [Paul Kane] said.
For his part, [Lonnie Vaughan of the anti-1804 group United Front Task Force] still is shuttling immigrants without driver’s licenses to the church where he is associate pastor. “Every time I get in the van, I’m committing a felony,” he said, convinced that some of the flock are in the country illegally. But he said he doesn’t believe, even in the state with America’s toughest immigration law, Oklahoma would bring a felony charge against a citizen for driving someone to church.
From Carol, of Immigration Reform for Oklahoma Now (I.R.O.N.):
Folks, Oklahoma is on the MARCH! 12-20 states are looking to Oklahoma to lead in the fight against the illegal alien invasion…Local dues support State and National Chambers and should not fund lawsuits against its membership.
The U.S. Chamber, Plus the State, Tulsa, and OKC Chambers have declared war on Oklahoma Citizens:
- Chambers filed lawsuit 2/1/08 against many of their own members
- They seek repeal of the Immigration Bill – HB1804 to continue profiting from illegal workers – modern slavery – they want NO ID checks and unrestricted hiring practices
- Their agendas promote out-sourcing of jobs for globalization – NAU
- Is violating rule of law ‘okay’ if it increases profits?
- Is income tax evasion by employers now part of the ‘art of making money’?
What Can YOU Do?
- Voice your outrage and remove your Chamber membership
- Demand this corrupt, immoral, greedy and inhumane leadership be removed
- Demand your dues not be used for this lawsuit
Following is the contact information
U. S. Chamber of Commerce
Pres. Tom Donahue
202-659-6000
1615 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20062-2000
(Buy a supply of post cards to send)President Richard Rush
405-235-3669OKC Chamber of Commerce
Pres. Roy Williams
405-297-8900Tulsa Metro Chamber
President Mike Neal
918-585-1201ALSO joined Lawsuit:
Oklahoma Restaurant Assoc.
(405-942-8181)Oklahoma Hotel and Lodging Assoc.
(405-942-6462)
To learn more, contact Carol, with I.R.O.N., 918-906-6027
Scheme Aims to Pick Taxpayer Pockets and Re-Open Floodgates for New Illegal Alien Invasion
Responding to a question from the Oklahoma Political New Service, Rep. Terrill says he has not been contacted by Cain or Price about the difficulties 1804 may have caused the two industries.OKPNS.
“They’ve not said a word to me, and it concerns me that these companies would launch a multi-million dollar scorched-earth campaign without once speaking to me. If illegal aliens making the modern equivalent of slave labor wages are critical to their vitality, it makes me very, very concerned about the future of those companies,” Rep. Terrill told
Oklahoma City – An OKPNS investigation has unmasked an elaborate but seemingly foolish scheme by corporations and some chambers of commerce to pass a sales tax for improvements to Ford Arena and simultaneously double-cross those same voters by launching a multi-million dollar campaign to repeal the state’s wildly popular immigration reform bill.
Insiders believe that if the public discovers the linkage between the two efforts, there could be a voter backlash, adversely affecting the March 4th penny sales tax election, and subsequently killing Oklahoma City’s bid to land an NBA franchise.
While OKPNS has been critical of the Oklahoma press in the past for enormous lapses in journalistic judgment, this time the oversight is inexcusable. This one should have been uncovered some time ago, but it has not been explained anywhere in Oklahoma media or in the blogosphere.
Incredibly, the scheme calls for not just one campaign of deceit but two disingenuous and risky double-crosses: one aimed at the voters and another aimed at a popular state representative, which could unravel an effort to gain tax credits for the energy and technology sector.
One insider summed up the plot in this way, “Take their money, and then give them more illegal aliens. Take the tax credits, and politically harm the chairman of the revenue and tax committee. If true, I have never witnessed a more loathsome act.”
Oklahoma Political News Service has learned that the repeal plan is being kept in a low profile mode for two reasons. First, the corporate chiefs want the March 4th penny sales tax election to go off without a hitch, because of the fear of a massive voter backlash if citizens discover the agenda to repeal HB 1804 BEFORE the voters’ pockets are picked.
Second, the corporate bosses do not want to agitate Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, HB 1804 author and now a national leader in the immigration reform movement. Why? Because these and other corporate leaders are lobbying for millions of dollars in tax credits for the energy and telecommunications industries. To do that, they will need the support of the House Revenue and Tax Committee, chaired by Rep. Randy Terrill.
We at OKPNS thought when we heard this that this plan, risky and idiotic as it may seem, that it must be so ingenious that we couldn’t grasp its complexities. “No, you’re wrong,” another capitol insider suggests. “It’s the product of idiots.”
The March 4th vote seeks to raise $122 million, through a penny sales tax for 15 months to improve the Ford Center and build a practice facility so it can attract the Seattle Supersonics here starting in 2009. Dubbed “MAPS for Millionaires,” it is a relatively unpopular and controversial initiative. City leaders are planning a campaign to get voters to see the initiative in a positive light.
The OKPNS revelations of corporate dissembling will undoubtedly add to the initiative’s problems: a SurveyUSA poll done on January 29th for Oklahoma City TV station KFOR-TV showed the measure trailing 48-47, despite nearly universal positive media coverage of the proposal and no real organized opposition.
With apologies to KTOK afternoon drive host Mark Shannon, who hinted at the story last Friday, this is a story that the lazy and timid Oklahoma capitol press corps should have uncovered weeks ago. It’s best summed up by a capitol regular, who when told of the scheme said, “When the voters find out that the rich boys, who want the taxpayers to pimp their basketball arena, are going to turn around and try to open the floodgates to bring back illegal immigrants, there will be hell to pay,” she says.
Names connected to the plan include AT&T Oklahoma President Don Cain, as well as a public relations official at Chesapeake Energy named Tom Price. Sources say Chesapeake Energy is quietly discussing with allies a multi-million dollar campaign to repeal HB 1804. Ironically, Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon has an ownership stake in the Sonics, and tying the penny sales tax election to the same people who are attempting to weaken the immigration law would be damaging to his investment. Cain is also Chairman of the state’s chamber of commerce, a relatively weak business lobby group that stood mute in 2007 as HB 1804 was rocketing through the legislature. The three largest chambers of commerce, the state, Tulsa and Oklahoma City chambers, are officially on record as opposing the immigration reform bill.
This scenario becomes even more unusual when you consider that AT&T and Chesapeake have millions of dollars in tax credits pending at the capitol. Those items will most likely be heard in Terrill’s committee, and the Chairman, a social and fiscal conservative who follows the Reagan brand of conservatism, abhors corporate welfare. And now AT&T and Chesapeake, among others, have been exposed as insincere at precisely the wrong time.
“Their bosses are going to freak, but not as much as the voters,” our insider says. “Terrill will kill Cain’s tax credits, as he should, and I suspect that Corporation Commissioner Bob Anthony, who loathes AT&T, will want to know more. It could be a PR nightmare for him.”
The insider goes on to say that arrogance may have led the corporation group to overestimate their political IQ. “As for Chesapeake, they’re not playing against naïve little old OG&E this time. I don’t give a damn how much money they have: Terrill will line up that oil company with illegal aliens and the public will go with him. Their tax credits will be dead, too. They’re up against perhaps the smartest and most skilled politician in Oklahoma. He’s media savvy due to his television and radio gig, and he has a wealthy national following as the Pied Piper of immigration reform. The phone company and an oil company against Randy Terrill is an unfair fight: Terrill wins going away.”
So why would two large business corporations plot against an elected official that holds the key to their corporate welfare this session? “This is incredibly stupid. Tell me it’s not true. They’re plotting against and polling against the Revenue and Tax Chairman of the House of Representatives? It will boomerang against the phone industry, the energy sector and undermine public confidence against business as a whole,” an Oklahoma City lobbyist familiar with the situation says.
Responding to a question from OKPNS, Rep. Terrill says he has not been contacted by Cain or Price about the difficulties 1804 may have caused the two industries. “They’ve not said a word to me, and it concerns me that these companies would launch a multi-million dollar scorched-earth campaign without once speaking to me. If illegal aliens making the modern equivalent of slave labor wages are critical to their vitality, it makes me very, very concerned about the future of those companies,” Rep. Terrill tells us.
Other capitol observers say that at least one organization connected with this scheme has performed extensive polling on the possibility of repealing HB 1804, and that repeal will be almost impossible. “It’s too popular, [Terrill] is too popular and even a massive educational effort would fall short,” he says.
So what now? From our vantage point, the plan has put at risk the March 4th election, energy tax credits and cellular telephone tax credits. There will be interesting fallout if the dominoes fall where they appear to be heading and the arena tax fails in March and HB 1804 is still standing in June. Or maybe they’ll get away with it: after all, it still is the Oklahoma media. In that case, maybe only readers of OKPNS will ever know.
Oklahoma, along with Arizona has been cracking down on the employers of illegal aliens, prompting up to a third of the illegal immigrants in some areas to voluntarily leave the states.
Some are returning to Mexico, prompting legislators there to seek help for their burgeoning welfare system.
But some are opting to stay in the U.S., and move to states which have historically been more receptive to illegal immigrants. The Houston Chronicle is reporting on the problems faced by the Houston community as a result of the influx, with mixed reaction from the citizens:
”Texas is still very much an entrepreneurial place, where you can find your
place in this economy,” said James Hollifield, a Southern Methodist University
professor and migration expert. ”It’s not an immigrant’s paradise, but if you
work hard and keep your head down you can get ahead.”Mayra Figueroa, director of American For Everyone, a Houston nonprofit that advocates for labor rights of immigrants, said the strict laws in other states are pushing immigrants to Houston.
”There were a lot of people moving from Houston to
Oklahoma, and now they’re coming back because they are not able to work,” said
Figueroa, adding that many of them are Central American refugees. ”I can say
hundreds of families are coming to cities like Houston, because of the
law.”But the influx of undocumented workers into Texas is not welcomed by
everyone. Critics say illegal immigrants are taxing government resources, such
as hospital emergency rooms and public schools.”That is not good,” Larry Youngblood, leader of the Houston chapter of the Texas Border Volunteers, said about the new wave of immigrants. ”We’ve got about 400,000 to 450,000 in Houston already. And obviously they’re not all day laborers — not all are criminals — but we don’t need more.”
”We have to assume they’ll bring some wives and kids with them, so therefore our schools will be re-inundated. And traffic will be worse, too.” (Much more, here.)
What do you think? Has the exodus of illegal immigrants hurt or helped your local economy?OKPNS is seeking stories about the effect of illegal immigration on your community in Oklahoma. Please e-mail okpns_editor@hotmail.com.
From The Journal Record:
OKLAHOMA CITY – The chairman of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber didn’t waste any time Thursday morning before addressing what is perhaps the most divisive topic in the state. The issue pins many legislators into a position where they must choose to incur the displeasure of the business community, the anger of some rather vocal citizen groups within their districts, or even the ire of members of their own political party.
House Speaker Lance Cargill, R-Harrah, speaks on teacher pay and education Thursday at the 2008 Legislative Breakfast in Oklahoma City. (Photo by James Keathley)
The Greater Oklahoma City Chamber unanimously supports the repeal of the immigration law, part of which went into effect Nov. 1. Additional provisions designed to deter businesses from hiring people who live in the U.S. without the proper documentation are slated to go into effect July 1.
Nichols said the Tulsa Metro Chamber and The State Chamber also support repealing the law. Read more…
Related:
Statement from Speaker Cargill
OKLAHOMA CITY (Jan. 17, 2008) – “Opposing reforms like charter schools and performance pay is not ‘standing’ for children. It is protecting the status quo, which is exactly what Oklahomans wanted to get rid of when they threw the Democratic majority out of office three years ago,” House Speaker Lance Cargill said.
“House Republicans have put forward record investments in education, raising the Department of Education’s budget to an all-time high of $2.5 billion in the current fiscal year. We led the entire country in teacher pay raises on a percentage basis over the last three years. It was 80 years of Democratic leadership that resulted in teacher pay being near the bottom of the barrel. We can’t fix it overnight, but in the three years since Republicans have had the majority in the House, we have done more than any other state to improve teacher pay. They can just keep wasting everyone’s time with inaccurate, deceptive, partisan releases; we are going to keep moving the state forward,” said Cargill, R-Harrah.
“It is absurd to imply that we think our public school teachers are ‘inferior’ and ‘inept’. We have so many great teachers in this state and that is why we want to create a program to reward that excellence,” said House Education Committee Chairman Tad Jones, R-Claremore.
HB 1804 is doing exactly what it was created to do; clear Oklahoma of Illegal Immigrants. If only every other state in the union cracked down on Illegal Immigration the way we imagine the money we would save. Again thank you Rep. Terrill.
by Emily Bazar
PARK HILL, Okla. — Autumn had arrived in eastern Oklahoma, and workers at the sprawling Greenleaf Nursery were prepping for deadly frosts. They needed to ship plants, erect greenhouses and bunch trees together to protect them against the cold.
But in late October, about 40 employees disappeared from the 600-acre nursery about an hour’s drive from Tulsa. “Some went to Texas, some went to Arkansas,” nursery President Randy Davis says. “They just left.”
Why did the workers, all immigrants, flee? “Those states don’t have 1804,” Davis says.
In a matter of weeks, “1804″ has become part of the Sooner State’s lexicon. It refers to House Bill 1804, the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, arguably the nation’s toughest state law targeting illegal immigrants.
Dozens of state legislatures, citing inaction by Congress, have adopted measures aimed at curbing illegal immigration. Oklahoma’s new law, which took effect Nov. 1, is particularly far-reaching and has begun sending ripples through the state’s economy and its immigrant communities. Besides highlighting the impact of illegal immigration on Oklahoma, the law has made the state a laboratory in the national debate over immigration.
OKPNS is very disappointed that the ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION lobby has yet to give up its fight to justify breaking the law. But this is no surprise that a Tulsa county man is filing the lawsuit. After all Mayor Taylor and her Goon squad has been inducted into the SLIME Hall of Fame.
Attorneys for a Tulsa County man filed a lawsuit today seeking to declare a new anti-illegal immigration law unconstitutional.
Plaintiff Michael C. Thomas seeks to prevent public funds from being spent by the state and Tulsa County to enforce what the lawsuit calls an unconstitutional statute.
The Rev. Miguel Rivera, national CONLAMIC president, said his organization’s legal defense fund will take the decision before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
Mr. Rivera represents the National Coalition of Latino Clergy & Christian Leaders.
The Illegal Immigration lobby is at it again attacking a man who stood up for America and Oklahoma to stop ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. Apparently Senator Morgan does not believe in following the law. If Mr. Massey is running a tight ship, a performance audit shouldn’t be a problem. However, most lawmakers who do their homework know just the opposite.
From Demookie.com
By State Sen. Mike Morgan
We have a new bully in town in state Rep. Randy Terrill, propped up only by publicity and talk show attention. He is primarily driven by his single-minded, over-the-top rhetoric about illegal immigration. All the publicity and talk show attention has gone straight to his head, so much so he lambastes anyone who dares to criticize his ideas on the subject, including members of his own party and prominent business leaders.
Continuing his ego trip and bullying ways, Terrill recently moved on to lashing out at a volunteer member of the state Regents for Higher Education for discussing changes made to the Oklahoma’s Promise scholarship program. He threatened to use a performance audit to silence the objections Regent John Massey voiced over recent legislative changes to the program. I authored the bill, which provided a dedicated funding source for Oklahoma’s Promise as well as the legislative changes with which Massey disagrees. I welcome any comments, criticisms and suggestions he or anyone else might have over the bill.
Reasonable debate and discussion is what makes our democratic process strong and what our Founding Fathers envisioned for a strong, secure and free nation. But for reasons I do not comprehend, Terrill attacked John Massey’s critical review of the legislation and even threatened Massey’s “griping” would lead the regents right into a performance audit. Does Terrill not understand Oklahoma has laws governing how audits are initiated and conducted? He apparently intends to warp an audit into his own instrument of retaliation. This will not happen.
