By Devona Walker
Staff Writer
Much of the scrutiny surrounding those who enter the U.S. illegally goes back to Sept. 11, 2001, when a series of coordinated suicide attacks sent a wave of panic and anger through the nation, killing 2,974, primarily civilians.


House Bill 1804, effective Nov. 1, established criminal penalties for harboring, transporting or concealing illegal immigrants. It denies them public benefits. It also requires businesses to run all new workers through a verification system.

The legislation also could cut off in-state tuition for illegal immigrant students unless they can verify they have applied for citizenship or plan to within one year. It requires local law enforcement to check the immigration status of those it suspects of being illegal immigrants upon felony or DUI arrests. It also denies illegal immigrants' driver's licenses.

Here's a look at events leading up to the law being put into effect.

•9/11: Nineteen hijackers were killed during the attacks. At least one person has died of lung disease due to exposure to World Trade Center dust subsequent to those attacks. Another 24 people are missing and presumed dead.

•English only: By late 2002, momentum was going in Oklahoma to designate English as the official language in the state. But the English-only bill was defeated in March 2003.

Oklahoma's illegal immigrant population grew nearly 200 percent between 1990 and 2000, a U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service study shows.

•Illegal Immigrant numbers grow: Based on the 2000 census and INS statistics, 46,000 illegal immigrants lived in Oklahoma in 2000. Those increases created serious momentum for long-time immigration control advocates.

"There's been a complete collapse of any effective immigration control,â€