Last week I did a series of reports (3 to be exact) on a debate/forum that was held in the town of Seminole, Oklahoma on Saturday, Feb. 23rd. Between 30 and 40 people packed a small room to listen to Representative Randy Terrill and Senator Harry Coates square off on H.B. 1804, Oklahoma's stringent anti-immigrant bill that went into effect on Nov. 1st of last year.
Randy Terrill, who is a state Representative from Moore, Oklahoma, is the main author of H.B. 1804, and Harry Coates is a state Senator from Seminole who is worried about the bill's negative effects on his constituency. Both of these men are Republicans.
The first of my series of reports looked at the economic impact that H.B. 1804 has been having on the town of Seminole. H.B. 1804 calls for 4 basic things:
1. Prohibits undocumented immigrants from obtaining any official documentation such as driver's licences,
2. Prohibits undocumented immigrants from receiving free medical care,
3. Asks local law enforcement agencies to contact federal immigration agents after arresting people who could have questionable immigration status, and
4. Forces employers to verify the immigration status of all of their employees.
According to Sen. Coates, companies in Seminole are suffering because 1804 has run so many people out of Oklahoma that they are unable to find workers. He said that people have been going to Texas and other states that don't have such harsh anti-immigrant laws. Coates believes this is bad for Oklahoma because companies will either be forced to close or be forced to relocate to neighboring states as well.
Rep. Terrill told the people at the forum that 1804 is working and that is exactly what it was meant to do, run undocumented people out of the state. He said that with his law, illegal aliens (as he calls them) will not come to Oklahoma if there are no jobs, they will not stay here if there are no subsidies and if they come in contact with our law enforcement, they will be taken away. He also stated that there is no job that an American wouldn't do, he thinks they just won't do them for the same wage as the undocumented do.
Senator Coates then interjected that he wanted to know at what pay rate Terrill thought Americans might do the work. He said that undocumented people are being payed up to $20 dollars an hour for some jobs and that he doesn't think Americans will do the work, no matter what the wage is.
Members of the audience had the chance to ask some questions as well, and one man stood up and read off a list of national, state and local chambers of commerce that had come together in a lawsuit against 1804. He asked Rep. Terrill how, if all of these groups who support business in Oklahoma are against 1804, the law could be benefiting the state. Rep. Terrill didn't answer the question but said that these chambers of commerce not only wanted to receive subsidies from the government and tax payers on the front end, but also want taxpayers to subsidize their illegal labor force. Senator Coates then stood up and told everyone that what Rep. Terrill said was just another conspiracy theory and the real reason why the chambers of commerce had decided to sue the state is that they now realize they stood by and allowed a bad and immoral bill become a law.
The majority of the people at this forum were wearing stickers that said "Fix 1804", and it was obvious that many of them were upset with Representative Terrill. One man told me that he knows many Hispanic people and he knows how hard they work. He also said he knows that Oklahoma needs them and that Randy Terrill would probably never think the same because he has never been a businessman.
Stay tuned for Part 2
Monday, March 3, 2008
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