The Oklahoma Senate passed House Bill 4156 by a 39-8 vote and sent it to the Governor on 4/24/24. This anti-immigrant bill creates the crime of “impermissible occupation.” First-time “criminals” would be charged with a misdemeanor and could go to jail for up to a year. A second offense would be a felony with up to two years in prison.
Wait! These are our friends, neighbors, and co-workers. Or they live in families that will be torn apart if an undocumented parent or grandparent is raising children born in the USA. We cannot morally or legally justify this. This is not justice.
Over a million Americans live in Mexico, an estimated 90% of them are undocumented. Why? The five reels of red tape to get authorized is a bureaucratic nightmare whether one moves to Mexico or the USA.
Let me quote Arturo Alsonso-Sandavol, (D) Oklahoma City. “This bill would cause law-abiding and tax-paying residents to flee. … these are people who have been here for decades and contributed millions in tax dollars. The passage of this bill ignores that undocumented Oklahomans pay over $26 million in taxes and provides no way to amend that gap in tax dollars.”
Immigrants are willing to do hard, dirty, and dangerous work. Oklahoma already has a shortage of workers. Aside from creating so much bad will in our communities, this bill will disadvantage everyone.
Republicans are using the border as a political football in a battle between state and federal authority. While Republicans condemn Biden for our border policies, they expose themselves as outright hypocrites because they blackballed James Lankford’s legislation that even the border patrol said would solve a lot of problems. Why? Trump asked them to. He wants the border as a campaign issue. America first? Nope, Trump first. And all of us suffer.
Jane Hicks, Durant