Retired border patrol officers share ideas


02/14/08


OKLAHOMA CITY (February 11, 200 - The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers held its annual executive board meeting in Oklahoma City last week and met with Oklahoma lawmakers to discuss the state's immigration reform bill passed into law last year.

The annual meeting of the executive board which includes several former chiefs of the United States Border Patrol, was hosted by Don Coppock of Cherokee, a constituent of Rep. Jeff Hickman. Coppock began a 33-year career as a border patrolman in 1941, and served as the head of the U.S.

Border Patrol from 1960 until 1973. Even at the age of 97, Coppock remains active with the association and engaged in the issue of illegal immigration. "The issue of illegal immigration remains a complicated one, even for lawmakers who have been studying it the last few years, but I learned more from talking with these former Border Patrol officers for two hours this morning than I have in my three years as a state legislator," said Hickman, R-Fairview.

"To address this issue, we must first understand it and I appreciate the willingness of these officers to share their knowledge and the history of this issue with those of us who are continuing to try to make sure Oklahoma is doing what we should in the area of illegal immigration." Kent Lundgren, chairman of the association and a retired assistant chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, said the board came to the Capitol Wednesday to thank lawmakers for fighting for immigration reform in light of the failure to do so at the federal level.

"We want to thank these legislators for having the guts to do this," he said. "They paid a personal price." The legislation empowers local law enforcement to enforce immigration law, eliminates most state benefits for those here illegally and penalizes employers who are unwilling to run all new-hires through a federal screening process to ensure they can legally work in the United States.

"The federal government's failure to do anything with this issue is effectively making every state a border state," said Rep. Randy Terrill, the author of House Bill 1804. "The threat illegal immigration poses to this country is second only to the danger from radical Islamic terrorism-one seeks to destroy us from the outside, the other from the inside."

Bill Glenn, a former intelligence officer for the U.S. Border Patrol, said a push for amnesty or a legal guest worker program will not solve the issues businesses have with immigration reform.

Often, opponents of reform say illegal immigrants are the only ones who will do certain jobs, like picking agriculture crops or roofing a house.

Glenn said if those workers were given legal status, even temporarily to work, they would no longer fear deportation and would start to demand higher wages and better working conditions.

"The only way they keep them down on the farm is by keeping them illegal," Glenn said. "Their wages remain low only because of their illegal status. Legalize them and they will demand higher wages and seek better jobs themselves."

Lundgren said, workers already have to compete for jobs in the global economy as more local jobs are shipped overseas.

"American workers should not have to compete with foreign workers down the street," said Lundgren. "I think in the long term this Oklahoma law will be shown as the turning point on immigration reform in the country." Rep. Paul Wesselhoft, R-Moore, disputes that immigration is purely a federal issue.

"The states are the true laboratories of democracy, and immigration reform is a perfect example. If it works here, it will be modeled elsewhere, and if another state is doing something successful, we will copy it here," he said. "That is what is great about democratic government."


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