Latinos flee Oklahoma; new law hits others, too
Sunday, September 7, 2008 1:34 AM
By Todd Jones
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
TULSA, Okla. - Even those used to powerful gusts here in tornado alley weren't prepared for what happened when the rhetoric swirling around immigration touched down as law.
Some were swept up in unexpected consequences, hassled with more paperwork and longer lines to receive an identification card or bounced from state medical rolls.
Many others were blown out of town, even out of state.
Estimates indicate that up to 25,000 Latinos have fled Tulsa County, and an unknown number have left the state since Democratic Gov. Brad Henry signed one of the nation's toughest immigration laws in May 2007. (Mississippi enacted a similar law in July.)
"That was the purpose," said state Rep. Randy Terrill, a Republican from Moore, Okla., who wrote the law that took effect Nov. 1. "It's attrition through an enforcement approach to solving illegal immigration."
Latino advocates, however, describe a subsequent climate of fear and racism that's as palpable as the relentless wind that sweeps across this heartland state.
"You don't have to be undocumented to feel as if you're targeted by this law," said the Rev. Julian Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen who moved from Mexico in 1983.
The fallout - intended and unintended - gives Ohio lawmakers much to consider as they decide whether to follow Oklahoma's lead.
The law makes it a felony to transport, conceal, harbor or shelter illegal immigrants.
Strict enforcement of identification and paperwork requirements has caused headaches for all citizens. No one predicted longer lines and delays for everyone receiving or renewing a driver's license.
No one anticipated that nearly 6,000 people - mostly nonimmigrants - would be dropped from SoonerCare, the state Medicaid program. Of those removed in December, 58 percent were white and 62 percent were children. They failed to provide all of the required new paperwork to prove legal residence.
Few foresaw that immigrants would become easier targets for criminals, who know they'll be reluctant to contact authorities for fear of deportation.
Despite such unintended consequences, Oklahoma's anti-immigration crackdown has been wildly popular in polls since the legislation sailed through the state's Republican-dominated legislature.
"It's working great, bud; it really is," said Dan Howard, founder of Outraged Patriots, an
Oklahoma-based Web site focusing on immigration.
Business organizations, however, have joined a legal challenge to the law filed by the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce. An Oklahoma federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of job-related parts of the new law that was scheduled to take effect this summer, and said it is "substantially likely" the law is unconstitutional.
The law's other provisions remain in effect.
Enforcement varies from community to community. Most agree that Tulsa has become the epicenter of the crackdown in a state where immigrants have accounted for nearly 30 percent of the population growth in the past eight years.
Oklahoma's Latino population has jumped nearly 45 percent since 2000 and is now about 7 percent of the 3.6 million residents. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated in 2006 that 75,000 were living illegally in the state.
For many Latinos living in Oklahoma - legally or illegally - the law has caused pain.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/09/07/divide_oklahoma.html
