Oklahoma passed the toughest immigration enforcement law ever. That’s right, ever. A last minute request by Latino organizations was denied Wednesday night by U.S. District Judge James Payne. The new immigration enforcement law starts today.
“In light of the plaintiffs’ failure to introduce evidence in support of their motion, and in light of plaintiffs’ limited argument in support of their motion, the court cannot conclude the plaintiffs’ right to a preliminary injunction has been clearly and unequivocally established,” Judge Payne stated.
The plaintiffs included the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Religious Leaders among others. The Judge said that they did not prove the new immigration law would cause irrevocable harm or that is was in the public’s interest.
The new immigration enforcement law, HR 1804, requires local and state law enforcement agencies to check the immigration status of anyone arrested for a felony or DUI. If the criminal is found to be an illegal immigrant, they will contact the Department of Homeland Security to have them deported. HR 1804 also requires state agencies to confirm citizenship before dispersing any type of public welfare or money. Lastly, illegal immigrants will no longer be able to get a driver’s license.
Both sides of the debate were present at the late night hearing. “This is horrible,” said Guillermo Rojas, Venezuelan native and member of Oklahoma Governor’s Advisory Council on Latin American and Hispanic Affairs. “But this has woken us up. We are many, the Hispanic people, and we will be heard,” Rojas said. “This has given us a reason to show our power and political influence.”
“We will not be intimidated by illegal aliens invading our country and dictating to us how are government should be conducted,” said Outraged Patriots founder Dan Howard. “I’ll be damned if I sit here patiently while Mexico moves here.”
This could be a precedent for other states to take further measures to stop the illegal immigration problem. The Attorney General of Oklahoma will argue on Tuesday that the lawsuit should be dismissed entirely. It will be very interesting to watch as this develops

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 11:17 am and is filed under News, Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be moderated but will appear as soon as humanly possible.