Oklahoma lawmaker plans second law on immigration, criticizes bishop

Published: 2007-12-07

TULSA, Okla. (CNS) -- The state lawmaker who wrote a new Oklahoma statute on illegal immigration that is considered one of the harshest such laws in the nation has said he plans to follow it up with "son of H.B. 1804" when the Legislature convenes in January. The Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, also known as H.B. 1804, took effect Nov. 1. Republican State Rep. Randy Terrill also said Tulsa Bishop Edward J. Slattery's Nov. 26 pastoral letter concerning the law was "noble but misguided." Terrill said Catholic leaders oppose the law because "the fastest-growing parishes in Catholicism are non-English-speaking" and that "a good portion" of their congregations "are illegal aliens." His remarks were quoted in the Nov. 29 Tulsa World daily newspaper. The following day, the bishop told a news conference he was advised by attorneys that the new law is unconstitutionally vague and will not withstand scrutiny in the federal courts. "It'll be too late by then," he said, noting that many immigrants, legal as well as illegal, have already fled the state and are continuing to flee. "The law is designed to put fear in the people so they will leave, and they are. The law is working," he said.

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