CONTACT:
Damon Gardenhire
Oklahoma House of Representatives
Capitol: (405) 962.7679
gardenhire@okhouse.gov

OKLAHOMA CITY (March 7, 2007)–- Lawmakers in the House on Wednesday approved an omnibus Republican immigration reform package with overwhelming bipartisan support, sending the measure to the state Senate for consideration.

"We’ve done the heavy lifting, and now it’s time for the Senate and the governor to work with us to pass real immigration reform for Oklahoma," said Rep. Randy Terrill (R-Moore), author of House Bill 1804. "We haven’t heard much publicly from the governor on this issue, but Oklahomans are rallying for the strongest reforms in the nation. It’s my hope that all parties can work together to enact this bill into law."

"Our immigration reform plan is about respect for the rule of law and ensuring that our state’s social safety net isn’t strained to the breaking point," said Speaker Lance Cargill (R-Harrah). "Illegal immigration is a hidden tax on hardworking families in this state. It’s costing us hundreds of millions of dollars a year. The federal government has ignored the problem, so we’re going to take action now in Oklahoma."

House Bill 1804, the Oklahoma Taxpayer & Citizen Protection Act of 2007, has the support of two national immigration reform advocacy groups. Called the most meaningful immigration reform effort in the nation, the measure is a key part of the House GOP’s Safe Families platform in the Year of Ideas Agenda.

A key element in House Bill 1804, the Basic Pilot Program, uses federal databases to determine work eligibility.

Oklahoma would be among the first in the nation to enroll in the program, and employers would be required to use the database system to confirm employees’ legal status. Several Oklahoma employers already use the system, and Terrill said Basic Pilot would reduce the possibility of discrimination in the work environment.

"This system provides a quick, fair and streamlined way for employers to check on the legal status of new hires," said Terrill. "And it ensures that all new hires are treated equally, without regard to things like ethnicity."

Terrill said that opponents of immigration reform have tried to sidetrack the debate with inaccurate and overheated claims about discrimination. Terrill said that Oklahoma and the United States should welcome legal immigrants with open arms.

"Legal immigration is part of what makes America great. The melting pot of legal immigrants who come to Oklahoma makes our state great," said Terrill. "But there’s a stark difference between legal and illegal immigration. I’ve likened our illegal immigration crisis to the ‘broken window’ analogy. If you have one broken window in a neighborhood and do nothing to repair it, you’ll soon have a neighborhood full of broken windows. That’s the situation we have with illegal immigration, only we’re faced with broken borders. As a nation we have looked the other way and ignored the problem for too long."