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Published: March 13, 2006 12:13 am

Immigration bills would crack down on illegals in Oklahoma

Staff and wire reports

OKLAHOMA CITY — Members of Oklahoma’s Latino population say their growing numbers and economic clout are fueling a spate of election-year immigration bills that would crack down on illegal immigrants by forcing ordinary public employees to report them.

The bills are a response to a wave of immigration in the state that lawmakers complain have taken jobs from Oklahoma citizens and is sapping scarce tax dollars for education, health care and a variety of social services they say frequently are used by immigrants.

“We can’t afford to be the welfare state for the whole world,” said Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-Del City, a candidate for the 5th Congressional Dis-trict seat who is shepherding an immigration bill through the Legislature to require state and local government workers to report suspected illegal aliens to federal authorities.

“Federal law says we’re supposed to be doing this anyway,” Calvey said. “The message I have for illegal immigrants is, please come back when you’ve complied with the rules.”

State Rep. Curt Roggow said he would rather not have any state support going to illegal immigrants.

“I would rather they go to U.S. citizens. If immigrants become citizens, I welcome immigration to the U.S. This country was founded on immigration. Everyone came from somewhere,” Rog-gow, R-Hillsdale said.

Enid Republican Mike Jackson said the name illegal aliens describes the status of the people in question.

“They are here illegally. They are not supposed to be here,” he said.

Jackson said illegal aliens are probably not paying income taxes and not contributing to the treasury they are benefitting from. However, Jackson said the process to become a legal alien is lengthy and said Immigration and Naturalization Service should speed up the process.

State Sen. Patrick Anderson, R-Enid said the Senate passed a bill this week that would assist the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation to find and prosecute people who provide false identification to illegal aliens.

“It creates a drain on the economy because we are required by law to provide medical care, education, any public service to all people, no matter what their legal status,” he said. “I’m not opposed to legal immigration. But when people come in illegally, we need to enact additional laws that will help protect not only the financial end, but national security. We don’t have much control or knowledge about who comes into the state or country.”

Jackson added he loves the diversity of the United States. However, when illegal people get into the health care and welfare systems of the state it drains the systems and makes it difficult to serve those who need it.

Latino support groups say the legislation is malicious, will discourage immigrants from seeking health care and other services and is an attempt by politicians to promote themselves by exploiting voters’ fears.

“Deep wounds have already surfaced from these intolerant and hateful tones,” said Ed Romo, vice president for civil rights and political affairs for the League of United Latin American Citizens in Oklahoma City.

“In no way are we going to accept the rationale that immigrants have created such a problem for Oklahoma or for the nation to justify this kind of legislation,” Romo said.

Romo called Calvey’s bill an attack on diversity and election-year pandering “of the worst kind.” Latino advocates said Calvey was one of their biggest supporters when he championed legislation that would offer in-state tuition to resident aliens at state colleges and universities, but that was three years before he decided to run for Congress.

“He is selling his principles to run for office,” said Pat Fennell of the Latino Community Development Agency in Oklahoma City.

The effect of Calvey’s tuition bill would be reversed in legislation filed by Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, that would make undocumented aliens ineligible for in-state tuition.

The same bill would make resident aliens ineligible for taxpayer-backed student scholarships and require state agencies that administer public assistance programs like food stamps and Medicaid to deliver them only to qualified citizens.

Fennell said immigrants want to improve their lives, not live on public assistance, when they leave their homelands.

“People don’t come to this country to get on welfare. People come to this country to work,” she said. “People don’t understand what would happen to the economy of the state if all of the undocumented workers disappeared. You would see a tremendous impact.”

Many hotels, motels and restaurants would struggle to open and construction projects would come to a standstill, Fennell said.

“Latinos are a force in the economy, whether they are undocumented or not,” she said.

The state immigration bills have plenty of support from members of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation who want border security beefed up to slow the flow of illegal immigration into the country.

Republican U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, who is leaving his 5th District seat to run for governor, said there are an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in the country — more than half from Mexico — and that all levels of government are needed to address the problem.

“We need public employees to help us fix the problem,” Istook said. “I want people to come to America from other countries. But I want them to do it legally.”

“It’s a tough thing. Most Americans don’t like to play the role of snitch,” said U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla. “Americans are not hostile to immigrants. Most Americans are immigrants. You scratch an American, you find an immigrant.”

But the flood of immigrants poses a national security issue and threatens public security and health in many communities.

U.S. Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., said an increase in immigrants in his eastern Oklahoma district coincided with an increase in illegal methamphetamine trafficking.

“You have a lot of this meth coming in from Mexico from these super labs. It’s actually much more potent. It’s much more lethal,” Boren said. “If you knowingly harbor someone who is illegal, you need to be punished.”

Opponents of harsher rules say the state should not be required to help solve what is primarily a federal problem.

“Our position is that the federal immigration system is broken. The state shouldn’t be forced into using their facilities to try to fix it,” said Shirley Cox of Catholic Charities of Oklahoma City, an ad hoc professor of immigration law at Oklahoma City University.

Cox said federal immigration reform should include fair rules that allow people to more easily become legal residents and meet the basic needs of their families, including higher visa quotas, more types of visas and amnesty for people who have been working in the country for years.

The proposed state rules are creating fear and confusion in many Latino communities, where undocumented aliens who have no legal rights, work menial, low-paying jobs and have no path to legalization already comprise some of society’s most vulnerable people, Cox said.

“From a faith-based point of view, undocumented persons are our brothers and our sisters,” she said. “From a faith perspective, we are called to respond to the needs of the least of our brothers and sisters.”