Governor Henry's Advisory Council on Hispanic and Latin American Affairs

It is now early Tuesday morning, the 19th of February. I didn't have time to comment on the story I covered for last Friday, the 15th of February, so I'm doing it now.

Governor Brad Henry has an advisory council that deals with Hispanic and Latin American Affairs and they met with the Governor's Ethnic American Council in a special meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss the effects that our state's new anti-immigrant law, H.B. 1804 has had on our community. Eventhough they didn't allocate enough time to discuss the effects of 1804, they did discuss some of the new legislative proposals that will either strenghthen that law or even anul parts of it. Of course there is a wide array of proposals, including some that would look at the root problem of immigration in Latin America and the lack of decent wage paying jobs and actually punish companies that have operations south of the border and that don't pay the same wages on either side. There is also a proposal to make English the official language of Oklahoma. Now we know that in the United States, we speak English, and to survive here economically, politically and socially, you pretty much have to know English. Oklahoma is no different. There are many indigenous tribes here that spoke their languages long before English was introduced to the area, and this law, which seems to be aimed at Spanish speakers, might alienate those indigenous groups as well. It might not be appropriate to pass such legislation, especially in this state. However, the Republican Representative from Moore, Randy Terrill thinks otherwise ( he is the author of H.B. 1804 and also, I believe, author of the new "English Only" proposal).

One of the proposals strongly discussed at this meeting was that of the Republican Representative, Shane Jett. Jett was, of course, in attendance and explained what his proposal looks to achieve. To understand fully the proposal submitted by Jett, we have to look at H.B. 1804. Now, from what I understand, 1804 not only prohibits undocumented immigrants from recieving certain state provided benefits and implores that businesses utilize the "pilot program", developed by the federal governement, to verify employee's immigration status, but also forces local law enforcement agencies (and other state agencies) to call ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) when they suspect someone that they are dealing with to be an undocumented immigrant. This means, for example, that if the police stop someone for a routine traffic violation and they think that person may be undocumented, they must take them in and call ICE to verify their status. If that person is undocumentes, ICE then decides whether to come and pick that person up for deportation or to let that person go. Now, under the Jett proposal, if people who are here without papers come forward, enlist in a program that would identify them and obtain a certain "good faith" credential, they would be protected from being turned into immigration officials by local law enforcement. Now, to obtain this identification card, people would be made to pay a fee or penalty for being in Oklahoma without permission, they would have to pay their taxes and would have to acknowledge that they are law abiding citizens and refrain from committing crimes. According to Jett, if a person who has one of these identification cards is stopped by the police for speeding, running a red light, or any other minor traffic violation, they would just have to present their identification card to the official and they would be given their ticket, go to court and be set on their way. Basically this system would protect people from the enforcement aspect of 1804. However, not in any way would this ID protect them from an ICE raid or any immigration related activity being carried out by the US federal government.

Jett's proposal, if passed could set a presidence and a model for other states in the region and across the nation. However, according to Jett, support for his proposal is hard to find within his republican colleagues, and there are even some democrats that might not like the idea. Jett believes that his proposal can succeed if enough people in the congressional districts around the state voice their opinions and support his proposal. He encourages everyone to be in contact with their elected officials on a constant basis and to let them know what exactly they want. And what he says is true, after all, how can our senators and representatives ever know how to vote if their constituency isn't vocal.

To watch the report I did on this story that aired last Friday, February 15th, just click on the link that says David Stout Latest Stories and look for the video that carries that date.

To see more of my stories, be sure to tune in to T30 Telemundo (channel 30 on satellite or antenna and channel 5 on Cox cable in OKC).

Cheers..........