Lawsuit against new state law may get quick action in Tulsa

TULSA — Quick action — perhaps as soon as next week — is anticipated by a Tulsa County district judge on a challenge to HB 1804, the state's new law on dealing with immigration, attorneys who filed the lawsuit said Friday.

District Judge Jefferson Sellers is being asked to overturn the law that took effect Nov. 1 on the legal grounds that it violates the Oklahoma Constitution, said James C. Thomas, a law school professor at the University of Tulsa who specializes in constitutional and legislative legal matters.

Specifically, Article 5, Section 48 of the Oklahoma Constitution states: "The Legislature shall have no power to appropriate any of the public money for the establishment and maintenance of a Bureau of Immigration in this State.”

Thomas said HB 1804, in effect, creates such a bureau in its requirement directing the attorney general to negotiate with the federal government for the "detention, removals and investigations” in the state for immigration enforcement, Thomas said.

The bill also violated the state constitution because it covered more than one subject, such as the provision on higher education, called "log rolling.”

Under the "log rolling” provision, HB 1804 allows higher education regents to eliminate illegal immigrants who have successfully completed the General Educational Development test from eligibility for resident tuition fees.

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