[From an email sent to me]........
Oklahoma 's Governor Brad Henry has signed a sweeping immigration Reform
bill:
House Bill 1804 that its sponsor believes will go a long way in dealing with
the illegal alien problem in the state.
House Bill 1804 was passed by overwhelming majorities in both the Ho use and
Senate of the Oklahoma Legislature. The measure's sponsor, State
Representative Randy Terrill, says the bill has four main topical areas: it
deals with identity theft; it terminates public assistance benefits to
illegal; it empowers state and local police to enforce federal immigration
laws; and it punishes employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.
Oklahoma is no longer "O.K." for illegal aliens, Terrill observes. "When
you put everything together in context," he contends, "the bottom line is
illegal aliens will not come here if there are no jobs waiting for them,
they will not stay here if there is no government subsidy, and they
certainly won't stay here if they know that if they ever encounter our state
and local law enforcement officers, they will be physically detained until
they're deported. And that's exactly what House Bill 1804 does."
The Oklahoma legislator is pleased the bill he sponsored into law was signed
by Governor Henry and believes it will go a long way to curb the illegal
immigration problem in the state. "I would remind people that states are
separate sovereigns in our federal system," Terrill points out. "Anyone who
doesn't understand that needs to go back and take an American federal
government class in college," he says.
As a result of that sovereignty, the Oklahoma lawmaker insists, "we have as
much right - in fact I would argue, a responsibility - to protect our tax
payers against that sort of egregious waste, fraud and abuse as the federal
government should have a responsibility to protect that international
border, but doesn't do that."
Terrill says as long as the federal government refuses to do its job of
protecting the international borders of the United States, like Oklahoma
must take action to deal with the problem that is costing taxpayers in the
state $200 million a year in public benefits, law enforcement costs, and
other resources.
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I don't live in Oklahoma but find a lot to like in this law. |
