From 9/11 to present: How we got to HB 1804
From 9/11 to present: How we got to HB 1804
By Devona Walker
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Published: November 4, 2007
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.
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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,” said
Dan Stein, executive director of the
Federation for American Immigration Reform.
•
Oklahoma's first immigration bill proposed: In November 2005, former state Rep. Kevin Calvey, R-
Del City, proposed legislation requiring state employees to report illegal immigration. The measure would have required state and local employees to report suspected violations of immigration law to federal authorities.
•
Oklahoma's new Boomers: By mid 2005, illegal immigrants made up at least 40 percent of the state's foreign-born population, according to national studies. It was designated as one of nine states with 55,000 to 85,000 illegal immigrants, also known as settlement states, the report said.
•HB 3119: In early 2006,
Sen Randy Terrill, R-Moore, authored HB 3119, which would have required proof of citizenship when getting identification cards at school, registering to vote or seeking public assistance. Anyone who couldn't prove American citizenship would be turned over to federal immigration authorities under HB 3119.
•
Back-to-back protests: On one day in April 2006, there were about 10,000 protesters demonstrating at the state Capitol against an illegal immigration bill authored by Terrilland Calvey. The next day, a group of 300 counter-protesters demonstrated at the state Capitol in support of the bill.
•HB 3119 dies: In April 2006, the bill was said to be too harsh and died in committee.
•
HB 1804 is born: On Jan. 19, 2007, HB 1804 was filed as the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007 and moved through committees.
•
HB 1804 OK'd by state legislature: On May, 1, the state
House of Representatives voted 84-14 in support of HB 1804.
•
Governor reluctantly passes HB 1804 into law: On May 8,
Gov. Brad Henry said it is impossible to effectively address immigration reform until the federal government acts. But he signed the bill into law.
•
Hispanic community lashes out: On June 1, members of the
Governor's Advisory Council on Latin American and Hispanic Affairs were asked to resign because of complaints they don't represent the Hispanic community and for failing to persuade Henry to veto HB 1804.
•
Immigration enforcement faces federal setback: On Oct. 1, the
Social Security Administration planned to send out "no-match” letters to employers with 10 or more workers whose names did not match their Social Security numbers. There are several million workers using "no-match” numbers. But a lawsuit was filed and the letters have not gone out.
•
OHCA's end-run for pre-natal health: After years of trying to get the state legislature to allow them to provide pre-natal care to pregnant illegal immigrants, on Oct. 11, the
Oklahoma Health Care Authority's board elected to provide those services by itself. Members of the authority voted 6-1 to approve a rule change, qualifying undocumented women with
Medicaid prenatal assistance.
"It clearly runs contrary to state legislative intent,” Terrill said about the rule change.
•
Law enforcement balks over HB 1804: On Oct. 13, police departments and the local district attorney's office said they do not have the training, manpower or resources to enforce HB 1804.
"It's all fine and good for the Legislature to say ‘We should kick them all out, or we should put up fences everywhere,' but it creates serious problems for us, the people who are responsible for enforcing it,” said
Scott Rowland,
Oklahoma County assistant district attorney.
•
Lawsuit filed: On Oct. 15, the
National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Religious Leaders filed a lawsuit against Henry and
Attorney General Drew Edmondson over HB 1804, calling it unconstitutional.
•Lawsuit dismissed: On Oct. 22, the lawsuit by the coalition of Hispanic clergy was dismissed.
U.S. District Judge James Payne said the plaintiffs had no standing because there were no damages as the law had not yet taken effect.
•Lawsuit refiled: On Oct. 25, the Hispanic clergymen refiled the lawsuit over the constitutionality of HB 1804.
•Catholics vow to resist: Also on Oct. 25, a council of priests with the
Oklahoma City Archdiocese and
Archbishop Eusebius J. Beltran signed pledges in opposition to the new immigration reform law.
"It's a dilemma we face,” said the
Rev. Michael Chapman, a member of the council and pastor of Holy Angels Catholic Church in
Oklahoma City. "It's definitely against the law to be here illegally. To that extent, Rep. (Randy) Terrill is correct. But we are making the statement that there is a higher law — a law of charity and helping your fellow man.”
•State Regents for Higher Education changes financial aid policy: Also on Oct. 25, the State Regents for Higher Education changed their financial aid rules to comply with HB 1804. It voted to allow illegal alien students the right to apply for financial aid or in-state tuition rates, but only if they intend to seek legal status.
Regent Stuart Price voted against the measure and said the current policy should stand. It allowed in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants with high school diplomas or general educational development certificates but didn't require federal applications and allowed students to seek state scholarships such as Oklahoma's Promise and the Oklahoma Tuition Aid Grant.
The immigration bill is "inhumane, unfair and shortsighted,” Price said. "I'm wondering: Just how low does this law go?”
•
New law has Hispanics fearing cops: On Oct. 26,
Oklahoma Police Chief Bill Citty said panic surrounding HB 1804 has kept some Hispanic immigrants who have been victims of crime from reporting the crimes. Citty said public misconceptions about the law were fueling fear that could make it difficult to track down violent criminals.
"We've had a series of armed robberies where Hispanics have been targeted. We think we are just getting a portion of it. We think they've been targeted because the suspects know they are less likely to report the crimes at this point,” Citty said.
•HB 1804 — Eve of law taking effect: On Oct. 31, the
National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders met with U.S. District Judge James Payne to argue for a temporary injunction against HB 1804, considered a tough immigration enforcement bill. The judge denied the injunction, which means the law went into effect as planned.
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Six undocumented Mexican immigrants were arrested today by U.S. Border Patrol agents at Qualcomm Stadium, after a report that they were stealing food and water meant for evacuees, according to spokesman Damon Foreman.
San Diego police responded to a call about alleged theft from the evacuation center and encountered six people in a van who didn't speak English and didn't have California driver's licenses, Foreman said. The police officers called the Border Patrol, who arrived at the stadium and made the arrests, he said. Foreman said the immigrants admitted they were Mexican citizens and that they were stealing.
By Timothy Egan - CALDWELL, Idaho: To hear people who call in to Idaho's leading talk radio station, Robert Vasquez is a hero: one of the few politicians to tell it straight.
Vasquez, 55, a county commissioner and Mexican-American in a part of the country where Hispanics are ascendant, has been on a crusade against illegal immigration - what he calls "an imminent invasion" from south of the border.
Vasquez has tried to get Canyon County declared a disaster area because of the strain from illegal immigrants. He has also sent a bill to the Mexican government for more than $2 million; that is the cost, he said, of Mexicans who are in the county illegally. "If he wasn't a Mexican-American himself, he would be labeled a racist and no one would listen to him," said Keith Esplin, executive director of the Potato Growers of Idaho. "If I were governor," he said in an interview, "I would close the borders of Idaho and mobilize the National Guard to secure checkpoints against all illegal aliens."
Born in El Paso, Texas, as the grandson of a Mexican immigrant, Vasquez joined the army at 17, he said, and was wounded in Vietnam. He earned two Purple Hearts. He has lived in Caldwell for 27 years.
So proud that she has committed herself to championing the rights of Mexicans and other immigrants who, like her parents, came to this country to live the American dream. Legally, that is.
Pulido actively fights illegal immigration — in 2005 she founded the Illinois Minuteman Project, a civilian border patrol group that works against illegal immigration, and she believes illegal immigrants dilute opportunities for those who arrive legally.
…
She’s the new Illinois chapter leader of You Don’t Speak For Me, a Washington, D.C.-based organization made up of U.S.-born Hispanics and legal Hispanic immigrants who believe illegal immigrants — and politicians eager to pander to special interest groups — are cheating hard-working, legal immigrants and U.S. citizens by diverting already-scarce resources.
…
“I believe there are a lot of Hispanics out there like me who are afraid to speak out,” she said. “I’m uniting with other Latinos who know we must stand up for the rule of law and fight for every American citizen no matter what race or ethnicity they are.”
I do agree with Doug, however, that this is really a national problem, Congress has earned contempt for its cowardly failure to deal with it. Then there's Social Security and Medicare.
Some blacks say Latino immigrants taking their jobs
By Lornet Turnbull/Seattle Times -
Outside the Home Depot store in Seattle's Sodo neighborhood, Tim Mitchell chases the same handyman jobs as the Latino men who crowd the narrow sidewalk.
On some mornings, the 39-year-old African American says, he's outnumbered 100-to-1.
"I think many people prefer Latinos because they believe they're cheaper, that they'll work for less money," he said. "Many of them don't speak English ... so people think they can take advantage of them."
As the debate over illegal immigration in the U.S. escalates, the scenario playing out among day laborers reflects a growing uneasiness among some blacks nationwide.
Many worry that the flood of illegal-immigrant workers crossing the border from Mexico is muscling low-skilled workers, many of them black, out of jobs in a number of industries — from the service sector to construction.
But other African Americans say the hordes of low-skilled workers from across Latin America crossing the borders can only harm those on the very fringes of the economy.
And the problem, they say, only threatens to get worse if Congress grants amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants living in this country, and allows thousands of others in through a guest-worker program.
"This issue is not new; this preference for immigrant workers over native African-American workers is historical," said Frank Morris, a former associate dean at the University of Maryland, College Park. Morris was also president of the Tacoma branch of the NAACP during the 1960s.