State of Oklahoma to Feds: Back Off!

Angered over an increase in federal usurping of states' rights, Oklahoma's Joint House Resolution 1089, passed by an overwhelming 92-3 margin, reasserts Oklahoma's sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and in the resolution's own language, is "serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates."

The Tenth Amendment states, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."

Charles Key authored the resolution because he believes the federal government's overstepping of its bounds has put our constitutional form of government in danger. "The more we stand by and watch the federal government get involved in areas where it has no legal authority, we kill the Constitution a little at a time," he said. "The last few decades, the Constitution has been hanging by a thread."

The resolution also instructs that "a copy of this resolution be distributed to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate of each state's legislature of the United States of America, and each member of the Oklahoma congressional delegation." The Resolution has been sent to the Senate rules committee.

Since the inception of Oklahoma House Bill 1804, there has been major controversy. House Bill 1804, introduced to the Oklahoma Legislature in 2007, has created many prayer vigils, church and civil protests and court filings against the bill and been called the "toughest illegal immigration statute in the nation". Oklahoma businesses and Banks have come out against the bill. HB 1804 gives the Oklahoma authorities the right to check the immigration status of anyone arrested in Oklahoma and if found to be illegal, gives the authorities the right to deportation. The bill stops illegal aliens from obtaining government identification, food stamps, low income housing, social security, Medicare and filing for schooling assistance. The bill also makes it illegal for any U.S. Citizen to house, employ or otherwise harbor or transport an illegal alien. The employers in the State are now held legally responsible for whom they employ.

Oklahoma Bankers Association:

The Oklahoma Bankers Association issued a report early in 2008 against HB 1804 and stating the negative impact it will have on Oklahoma. Representative Randy Terrill, author of HB 1804, reported by Okie Campaigns , issued his rebuttal to the Bankers Association report, stating "The most basic flaw of the report is that it assumes the illegal immigration debate is about nothing more that pure economics. In fact, it is about unquantifiable things much more important that that. It is about a fundamental respect for the rule of law, upholding our state and national sovereignty, and about the immorality of employing cheap, illegal alien slave labor."

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals:

On June 5, 2008 an article by Kiely Lewandowski of Jurist Legal News & Research reported that U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma granted a preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of employer related provisions of Oklahoma's immigration law. Judge Robin Cauthron concluded that it is substantially likely that the provisions are preempted by federal immigration law, and that was a risk of harm to the plaintiffs if the challenged provisions were to come into effect on July 1, 2008. The ruling was in response to a suit filed by the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, et. al. v. Henry. Additional proceedings are required. A similar suit had been dismissed in October 2007 by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma officials defended the validity of the law and challenged the legal right of the business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to file the lawsuit resulting in the House Joint Resolution 1089.

Sources:
http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/Infowar/28578
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/06/federal-judge=enjoins-oklahoma.php
http://www.4029tv.com/news/16714533/detail.html
http://okiecampaigns.blogspot.com/2008/03/oklahoma-bankers-association-report.html
Grits44, "House Bill 1804 Deals with Illegal Aliens in Oklahoma", Associated Content