February 20, 2008

Tulsa finds itself short of labour for ice storm clean-up

Immigration crackdown reduces number of undocumented workers

TULSA

The splintered trees, downed branches and piles of wood still littering nearly every neighborhood of this sprawling city two months after a devastating ice storm stand as a testament to something more than the ferocity of nature.

The debris is also a sign of the effectiveness of Oklahoma’s new law intended to drive illegal immigrants out of the state — the strictest such statute in the U.S., according to report in the Chicago Tribune.

The branches are still here, many of the law’s critics say, because the undocumented workers who would have cleaned them up are not.

“You really have to work hard at it to destroy our state’s economy, but we found a way,” said state Sen. Harry Coates, the only Republican in the state Legislature to vote against the immigration law. “We ran off the workforce.”

Frustrated by the federal government’s failure to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and to address the status of the estimated 12 million already here, state and local governments across the U.S. have been enacting immigration crackdowns.

Oklahoma’s new law, which cuts off undocumented immigrants from most government programs and mandates felony charges against anyone who transports or shelters them, has emerged as Exhibit A in the struggle.

Three months after the law took effect Nov. 1, anecdotal indications are mounting that many of Oklahoma’s estimated 100,000 illegal immigrants have fled the state. But so are indications that the new law is triggering unforeseen consequences.

Construction companies that relied on undocumented laborers are having trouble completing jobs.

Thousands of undocumented children have been dropped from the state’s Medicaid program. And business is down sharply at the stores, groceries and restaurants that serve a Hispanic clientele.

To the law’s supporters, who contend that illegal immigrants cost the state more than $200 million each year in extra health, education and welfare spending, those indicators are cause for rejoicing.

“The state of Oklahoma ought not be in the business of subsidizing the presence of people who are here illegally,” said Republican state Rep. Randy Terrill, sponsor of the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, also known as House Bill 1804.

“HB 1804 proves that attrition through enforcement works,” Terrill added. “All you have to do is enforce the law, deny them the jobs, deny them the public benefits, give state and local law enforcement the ability to enforce federal immigration law, and the illegal aliens will simply self-deport. And it will solve the problem.”

But to the law’s opponents, including Hispanic activists, religious leaders and many small-business owners, HB 1804 is wrongheaded and immoral.

“These are hardworking people who have been here for 10, 20 years, who have contributed to this economy,” said Jose Alfonso, senior pastor at Tulsa’s Cornerstone Hispanic Church. “These people are not criminals.”

Alfonso said he has seen his congregation of 425 shrink by more than 15 percent, an exodus fuelled by stories of illegal immigrants caught in the crackdown.

No one knows for certain how many undocumented immigrants have left Oklahoma, or where they’ve gone.

But immigration activists suspect some have returned to their countries of origin, while others have moved to neighboring states in search of work — a development that has prompted nearby states to consider their own Oklahoma-style crackdowns.

“The dominoes have been flicked,” Terrill said. “The folks in the surrounding states got the message. What was our problem has now become their problem.”

DCN News Services

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