Terrill The Terrible

State Rep. Randy Terrill’s mean-spirited illegal immigration bill would hurt some local businesses, brand the state as intolerant and cause immense hardship among the few undocumented workers who decide to remain here.

Under Republican Terrill’s bill (HB 1804), which passed out of a House committee this week, undocumented workers would not qualify for any state or local aid from public institutions. They could not get driver licenses or qualify for in-state tuition at our colleges. The bill would expand efforts to ensure state businesses do not hire illegal immigrants.

The bill states, “The State of Oklahoma finds that illegal immigration is causing economic hardship and lawlessness in this state and that illegal immigration is encouraged by public agencies within this state that provide public benefits without verifying immigration status.”

Those are lies. Undocumented workers (the key word here is “workers”) contribute to economy here and the vast majority of them are decent, hard-working people. They are here only because they want better lives for themselves and families. Terrill, who represents the Moore area, says illegal immigration costs the state $200 million a year. But how much do they actually add to the local economy? In addition, no public agencies here are actively encouraging illegal immigration. That’s absurd. They are merely dealing with a major federal problem just like other states.

The Republicans have failed on a national level to do anything about the growing numbers of undocumented workers in this country so Terrill and his GOP comrades say they are taking things in their own hands.

There are at least three things wrong with this type of lynch-mob thinking: (1) Oklahoma does not have a large number of undocumented workers. (2) The state is not a border state. (3) This is a federal issue, not a state issue.

The bill is clearly designed to generate visceral responses among the GOP base. The bill will not actually help anyone here. Yet it also shows how Republicans are fractured here and elsewhere on the issue. The GOP bigwigs, the ultra-rich corporate owners and executives, want a cheap labor pool they can exploit, but the base wants to wallow in its misplaced anger.

If the bill is passed by the House and Senate and signed into law by Gov. Brad Henry, here’s what will happen:

(1) Some businesses here will have to immediately raise wages and prices in order to survive. In fact, some business in the construction and agricultural fields might not make it at all. Rising salaries, of course, are a good thing for the middle class, but this will be offset by price increases, and their overall impact will have little real affect on stagnant wages here. Why not simply identify these workers and ensure they are paid and treated under prevailing federal laws? By all means, give American citizens first shot at roofing, farming and menial-labor jobs, but we shouldn’t penalize Oklahoman businesses for participating in a broken federal immigration system. The bill is completely anti-business. This is a national issue that has to be solved by the federal government.

(2) The bill will make the state look intolerant and strange. Why, for example, should Oklahoma have the most draconian illegal-immigrant laws in the nation? We’re not a border state. It doesn’t make logical sense, and it makes the state’s residents seem ugly and unwelcoming. Oklahoma needs hard-working people, and we should welcome them with open arms. Sure, the federal system needs reform, but the GOP didn’t do anything about it for six years when they had a legislative majority. President George Bush even wants a guest worker program for undocumented workers.

(3) Most importantly, those undocumented workers who decide to tough it out here for whatever reason will suffer immensely. They could be denied basic social services in emergency situations. They will be afraid to take their children to see a doctor. Some physicians here may even be afraid to treat them. The bill will create anxiety within the Hispanic community in general. Will Hispanic people leave the state in droves? Why raise a child in a place that makes your ethnic group a scapegoat?

The local Catholic Charities has come out against the bill, but, overall, state Catholic Church leaders remain fairly silent about what will happen if this bill passes. Every priest in this state should be against this bill because it’s unjust and immoral and because it’s an obvious attack on the Hispanic community.

If the bill passes, it will affect the economy and our quality of life here for years to come. Oklahomans need to embrace the world around them and join with people from different cultures to make this a better place to live. This bill isolates the state further from the reality of a diverse, multicultural world.