Thread: Okla. Immigration Law Blamed for Death

Okla. Immigration Law Blamed for Death

By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS

TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Edgar Castorena had diarrhea for 10 days and counting, and the illegal immigrant parents of the 2-month-old didn't know what to do about it.

They were afraid they would be deported under a new Oklahoma law if they took him to a major hospital. By the time they took him to a clinic, it was too late.

A ruptured intestine that might have been treatable instead killed the U.S.-born infant, making him a poster child for opponents of House Bill 1804 months before it was enacted as the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007.

"The sad part of it was the child didn't have to die if House Bill 1804 didn't ever come around," said Laurie Paul, who runs the clinic where Edgar was finally taken. "It was a total tragedy because the bill was there to create the myths and untruths and the fear."

The law, billed by its backers as the nation's toughest legislation against illegal immigration, took effect Nov. 1. It bars illegal immigrants from obtaining jobs or state assistance and makes it a felony to harbor or transport illegal immigrants.

A final portion of the law goes into effect July 1, requiring private companies to verify the employment eligibility of all new hires.

While it's difficult to characterize which state has the toughest immigration-related law, Oklahoma's goes beyond most because it includes the clause about harboring and transporting illegal immigrants, said Ann Morse, program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures' Immigrant Policy Project.

"What I think these laws may have are unintended consequences on the general public," Morse said recently. "How does the law get implemented? Who is the target?"

The crackdown has caused thousands of Hispanics to flee for neighboring states, with as many as 25,000 leaving northeastern Oklahoma alone, according to the Greater Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

The law's fallout also can be seen in the struggling businesses, worker shortages and widespread fear among immigrants who say they are afraid to drive to church or the market because police might pick them up.

"I feel like I'm in some kind of Nazi country where if they see your color, you'll be stopped," said Maria Sanchez, a 22-year-old student who is looking to leave Oklahoma rather than risk waiting the seven years it will take to get her papers. "I can't work, I can't study, I can't go out, there's no point of me staying here."

Civil rights leaders call the law xenophobic and redundant, and say other states will wrongly look to Oklahoma to push their own anti-illegal immigrant legislation. Business and church leaders also have been vocal opponents.

"Oklahoma was settled by immigrants ... which means that diverse is normal in Oklahoma," said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. "It's difficult for us to understand a state which is so Christian, that to have all this animosity toward immigrants is completely outrageous."

Supporters - described by Dan Howard, the founder of an anti-illegal immigration Web site, as "good, American, God-fearing people of the heartland that bleed red, white and blue" - say the law is necessary because of Washington's bungled immigration policy. They also believe the law has helped deter crime and punishes the companies that make money on the backs of illegal labor.

The bill's Republican author, state Rep. Randy Terrill, said similar versions have been introduced or are under consideration in more than a dozen states. Last year, more than 1,500 pieces of immigration-related legislation were introduced across the country, with 244 becoming law in 46 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"More than half the nation will soon be modeling Oklahoma's bill," said Terrill, who plans to introduce a companion piece this year that would make English the state's official language, order schools to report how many illegal children are enrolled and require people or businesses who transport, hire or rent to illegal immigrants to forfeit property.

Terrill said there's no correlation between his bill and Edgar's death, noting that the child died in July, months before the law took effect, and that the law provides an exception for emergency medical care.

"To the extent that these illegal alien parents deprived their own child needed and necessary medical care because of their ignorance of the law, then they should be in prison, frankly," Terrill said.

Edgar's parents are believed to have gone underground following the boy's death, returning either to Mexico or going to stay with family in Arkansas, according to interviews with people in Tulsa's Latino community.

Far from the halls of the state Capitol, fear leads illegal immigrants to develop elaborate emergency plans for their children in case the youngsters should find their parents missing.

Irene Maldonado, 24, has been designated as the one to call in case her sister-in-law gets deported. Meanwhile, she worries if her husband, Jose, will come home on weekends from the construction jobs he works throughout the state.

She has legal residency, he doesn't.

"I don't know if he has less fear, or he's trying to be the macho guy," she said.

Illegal immigrant Maria Saldivar, 44, searches for what little factory work she can to support her three children. Past employers now ask for papers.

"Every time I look for a job, it's always the same thing," Saldivar said in Spanish through a translator. "There was more work for me to do before."

Even workers with proper paperwork are leaving for jobs in neighboring states rather than split up their families.

"My guy who runs my framing crew, he had 70 workers, and as of Nov. 1, he lost 35 of them," said Caleb McCaleb, who runs a homebuilding company in Edmond. "My painter has lost 30 percent of his work force, my landscaper has lost 25 percent of his work force."

Some in Terrill's own party doubt the wisdom of his legislation.

"We've removed not only those here illegally and working, but those who are here legally," said state Sen. Harry Coates, a Republican who voted against 1804 and wants to repeal portions of the bill. "I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I understand economics."

Vicente Ruiz, a 47-year-old legal immigrant who runs his own electrical contracting business, put it more bluntly: "It's all about making money, and if everybody moves away, the whole state is going to suffer."

2008-01-25 19:09:14 GMT

http://news.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110// ... 36_53.html

What about the American workers who have lost their jobs to illegals? Does anyone feel sorry for them?

Related, but not duplicate thread on the subject here as well:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-100212.html

Stupid is as stupid does. Can't save stupid people from themselves.

Besides, they knew how to go to the hospital and have the baby and they were not afraid of getting caught then. They are deportable with or without an anchor baby.

Secondly, this sounds like a case of child abuse.

Dixie

Originally Posted by butterbean

"Oklahoma was settled by immigrants ... which means that diverse is normal in Oklahoma," said the Rev. Miguel Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders. "It's difficult for us to understand a state which is so Christian, that to have all this animosity toward immigrants is completely outrageous."

When are these people going to stop using words like "immigrants" and start calling them what they are, "ILLEGAL"?

So what prevented these people from taking their baby to the doctor and paying the doctor's fee? They wouldn't have been asked about their legal status. When the situation grew worse, what prevented them from obtaining emergency care? The Oklahoma laws only prevent them from obtaining free medical care for non-emergencies. Emergency care.... which developed into a crisis over a period OF TEN DAYS.... IS STILL REQUIRED BY EMTALA UNDER FEDERAL LAW.

This makes me ill and the fact they would do this and then blame the law is abhorent. Even if they were asked about their legality, what's more important -- their being deported or the life of their child? CALL IN CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES for any children left in that home.

Dixie,

I believe what it's called is negligent homicide.

Poster child for H.D. 1804 indeed! Poster child for child abuse and murder by parents is more fitting.

Is this story real?

Originally Posted by Dixie

Stupid is as stupid does. Can't save stupid people from themselves.

Besides, they knew how to go to the hospital and have the baby and they were not afraid of getting caught then. They are deportable with or without an anchor baby.

Secondly, this sounds like a case of child abuse.

Dixie

Irregardless of the citizenship or immigration status of this child, he would have received emergency care if these idiot parents had been responsible enough to seek it. They are the sole parties responsible for the childs death, it clearly is child abuse. If the child was born in the US, he was a citizen, plain and simple under the current and prevailing interpretation of the 14th ammendment. Irregardless of anyones opinions on that interpretation, the child was entitled to emergency care. Hospital emergency departments and any publicly financed health care facility do not refuse treatment to anyone, especially a child, based on ability to pay. The opponents of Oklahoma's law are using this child as a pawn, even in his death, just as the illegal alien invader parents used him as a pawn as an "anchor baby".

Track the parents down, charge them with child abuse, put their sorry asses in prison for a few years, then kick them the hell out of my country. This is not a Nazi state, but we are not going to sit idle and allow illegals to turn this into a 3rd world country.

Was the child born in a hospital or at home? The law has been in effect for a little longer than the two months.

And you can not tell me these people don't know the laws. They walk into the hospital and the first words out of their mouths is that they want the little sock slippers. They have a huge network and LULAC and NCLR are always around. Here, a LULAC person accompanies them every time they have a school, medical, or any meeting to make sure THEIR RIGHTS are protected... or we get lawsuits and threatened.