I am disappointed in the Tulsa World's one-sided coverage of the immigration debate. I have yet to see stories on people like myself who have owned successful businesses and are being put out of business by illegal immigrants.
Many think that, as a masonry contractor, I would be able to take advantage of the cheap labor pool. The only problem is that when a Hispanic approaches me wanting to work his first question is "you pay cash?" When they find out I will hold taxes and make them prove their citizenship they want nothing to do with working the legal way. Now so many illegal immigrants are in the masonry business they have their own companies and work far cheaper than I do because, as they brag, "we pay no taxes."
I started Sissom Masonry Design when I was 20, about 4 1/2 years ago, and today my profit margin is less than half what it was when I started. I have let all my employees -- most of whom have no other skills -- know that this will be my last year in the construction industry.
It is sad to see all the coverage and praise for immigrants who come here and use food and housing assistance when they have no legal right to it. Also, for all the rallies going on at the capital for amnesty, possibly I am mistaken but the right to assemble is an inalienable right granted to U.S. citizens, not illegal aliens.
What has this country come to, turning its back on people who have paid taxes their entire life, then give away things such as Medicare and Social Security to people who are not citizens? This would be a more compelling story than trying to play to the emotions of readers and painting the immigrants as poor, innocent people just wanting a better life. Everyone wants a better life, but the country should take care of the people who built it before giving it away to people who are only here to exploit it.
About 150 people gathered at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Oklahoma City to celebrate a Mass and listen to an overview on human rights before a march.
"We have a God-given right to immigrate when circumstances require," Father Tony Taylor, the church pastor, said. "It's what's required to raise their family and support their children."
As the group from the church made its way to the starting point of the march, the number swelled to more than 1,000 people. The group marched along S.W. 25th Street past many Hispanic-owned businesses with closed signs hanging in the window to a soccer field, where several Latino high school students addressed the crowd.
As the group passed the S.W. 25th Street intersection with Commerce, they encountered Jerry Tate, 69, who held a sign that read "Illegal aliens are criminals."
"They're encouraging people to break the law," Tate said, as people in the crowd yelled "racist" and chanted at him.
"These people are wanting to get something for nothing, while other people have waited for years to get into this country."
Police estimated the final crowd grew to about 4,000.
Stan McKay, an Oklahoma City immigration attorney for Catholic Charities, said he attended the rally to show support for the illegal immigrants in the United States who are working to provide a better life for their families.
"I know a lot of pain that the current policies can cause for these families," said McKay, 53. "These people risk death in order to come here and support their families."
McKay, who estimated there are about 100,000 illegal immigrants working in Oklahoma, said the state's economy would be devastated if those workers were deported.
"That would make the General Motors plant closing look like small potatoes," McKay said, referring to the recent closing of the GM plant in Oklahoma City that employed about 2,200 people. "And I think you'd basically be rolling up the streets in rural Oklahoma.
Despite a planned boycott of shops and stores on Monday, business was brisk at Demitris Smirlis' Coney Island hot dog restaurant along the march's route in south Oklahoma City.
"I haven't noticed any change," Smirlis said as he doused four hot dogs with chili and onions. "It's been pretty normal."
In Tulsa, at least 1,000 people came to Civic Center Plaza for a peaceful gathering. Participants waved American flags and listened to speeches.
In Oklahoma's Panhandle, about 2,000 employees at the Seaboard Foods hog processing plant in Guymon were given the day off to participate in immigration rallies.
The huge plant in Guymon processes 4.5 million hogs a year and 16,000 a day. Seaboard employs more than 4,000 people in Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Montana and Utah. Spokesman David Eaheart at Seaboard's corporate headquarters in Shawnee Mission, Kan., did not return telephone calls Monday about the plant's closure.
At the Texas County Courthouse in Guymon, more than 150 demonstrators, some holding signs and waving American flags, rallied peacefully, Police Chief Garrett Helton said.
"We had a lot of extra officers on duty, plus we got with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and had members of the (district attorney's) task force and officers from some of the surrounding towns," Helton said. "But there haven't been any problems at all. They're just marching and being peaceful."
Cordell Jordan, a spokesman for the Oklahoma City Public Schools District, said there were no reports of students walking out of class or teachers absent at schools on the city's south side, the heart of its Hispanic community.
"I don't know if there are any businesses that are having problems today, but we certainly didn't have any," Jordan said. "When I called the south-side schools, we have normal absentee rates."
A month ago, more than 5,000 Latinos gathered at the state Capitol to demonstrate against proposals to stop illegal immigrants from receiving tax-supported services like Medicaid and food stamps and require state employees to report suspected illegal aliens to federal officials. The measure, authored by Rep. Randy Terrill, was passed by the state House but died in the Senate.
"Even though their efforts are not likely to be successful, the American public ought to be troubled by this call to arms today by these foreign subversives engaging in economic terrorism," he said.
IFCO Systems, 2211 S May, was one of more than 40 sites nationwide hit Wednesday morning by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in what authorities are calling the single largest work site action against a company in U.S. history.
Immigration agents took nearly 1,200 illegal immigrants into custody at IFCO plants in 27 states.
The operation involving IFCO, the nation's largest pallet services company, was followed Thursday with the announcement of a new focus by federal authorities on employers who hire illegal immigrants.
"Employers and workers alike should be on notice that the status quo has changed," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a news release. "We intend to find employers who knowingly or recklessly hire unauthorized workers, and we will use every authority within our power to shut down businesses that exploit an illegal workforce to turn a profit."
Part of the plan is to seek criminal charges against employers rather than administrative fines.
One investigation last year resulted in a record $15 million forfeiture and settlement, according to immigration officials. That amount exceeded the sum of all administrative penalties levied over the previous eight years.
On Wednesday, authorities arrested seven current or former IFCO managers on charges of inducing illegal immigrants to live in the United States for commercial gain. They could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
At the Oklahoma City plant, agents nabbed 50 illegal immigrants, 46 of whom already have been sent back to Mexico, immigration spokesman Carl Rusnok said.
The other four have criminal backgrounds, he said, so they are facing deportation. Those who are deported can face criminal prosecution if they return to the United States.
Rusnok said he wasn't sure what percentage of the IFCO work force in Oklahoma City was picked up by immigration agents, but the company operations suffered a major hit nationwide.
"At each facility, I'm sure, the majority of the employees were illegal aliens," he said, pointing to an affidavit filed in federal court in New York that indicated a review of payroll records for about 5,800 IFCO workers last year showed more than half had invalid Social Security numbers.
Rusnok said one IFCO plant was left with only three managers when all of the employees who were in the country illegally were arrested Wednesday morning.
IFCO officials declined to comment on the arrests but promised to cooperate with investigators.
"It is our policy to comply with all federal and state employment requirements," the company stated in a news release.
Arrests madeA breakdown of the nearly 1,200 illegal aliens arrested in 27 states:
Oklahoma: 50; Alabama: 23;
Arizona: 35; Arkansas: 15;
California: 37; Colorado: 38;
Florida: 38; Georgia: 44;
Illinois: 26; Indiana: 39;
Louisiana: 51;
Massachusetts: 20;
Michigan: 27; Minnesota: 30;
Mississippi: 18;
Missouri: 59; New Jersey: 30;
New York: 24;
North Carolina: 44; Ohio: 78;
Oregon: 21; Pennsylvania: 36;
South Carolina: 41;
Tennessee: 96;
Texas: 234; Utah: 12;
Virginia: 21
Source: Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Smuggling is big business
Smuggling people into the United States from around the world has become a $10 billion-a-year industry, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Global crime networks use Mexican smugglers to sneak in Cubans, Brazilians, Iraqis, Africans and Chinese, according to Interpol, the international police network.
Mexico's president, Vincente Fox, offered to crack down on smuggling at a recent summit with President Bush. But close to 100 smuggling gangs still are operating, government officials say, in plain sight of Mexican law enforcement.
Border experts say the price for Mexican migrants has quadrupled from $300 to more than $1,200 since 1994, when the United States last tightened the rules. The price is higher for migrants from Central and South America -- Brazilians said they pay $10,000 to $15,000 for a package that includes airfare to Mexico City and crossing the border into America.
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. John Sullivan on Thursday accused Mexico of hypocrisy for mistreating illegal immigrants within its own borders while seeking lax immigration policies in the United States.
In a letter to Mexican President Vicente Fox, the Oklahoma Republican cited beatings and rapes of illegal immigrants by Mexican police or military, which were reported in a recent story by the Associated Press.
"Your government is encouraging the United States to water down our own immigration laws and policies, when your own immigration restrictions are the least humane on the continent," Sullivan wrote in the letter that also went to Mexican Ambassador Carlos Alberto de Icaza.
"Current Mexican immigration policies make null and void any moral argument that you and your leaders make when talking about the plight of illegal aliens in the United States."
In addition to the AP story, he also cited Fox's statements in which he described U.S. efforts to enforce immigration laws as "discriminatory" and the passage of a House bill calling for construction of a border fence "disgraceful and shameful."
"It is my understanding that the Mexican government classifies anyone caught illegally entering Mexico, including Americans, as criminals and subject to deportation or two years in prison," the congressman stated.
Sullivan called on Fox to halt his criticisms of U.S. immigration policies while Congress continues to debate the issue.
Rafael Laveaga of the Mexican Embassy in Washington said he could not respond to Sullivan's comments.
"We have not received the letter," he said.
Since joining Congress in 2002, Sullivan has made immigration a top priority and supported the House bill that focuses on enforcement.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Congressman John Sullivan of Tulsa is sending a letter to
Mexico's president in which he calls Mexican immigration policy "blatantly
hypocritical."
Sullivan says in the letter to President Vicente Fox that
while Fox calls US efforts to enforce immigration laws discriminatory -- Mexican
laws deny basic human rights to immigrants in that country.
The letter
also says Mexican immigration restrictions are the least humane on the
continent. And he calls on Fox to stop criticizing US immigration policies while
Congress is considering immigration reform legislation.
A spokesman at
the Mexican embassy in Washington says the letter has not been received and said
he could not respond to it.
"This is not just a federal issue," U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook said. "It's a combined issue, the state's got to be involved in helping to enforce the laws."
Istook, of Warr Acres, along with Tulsa oilman Bob Sullivan and state Sen. James Williamson of Tulsa, participated in Monday's Republican gubernatorial candidate forum in Oklahoma City.
Sullivan and Istook said they support legislation approved this year in Georgia that verifies adults seeking many state-administered benefits are in the country legally and sanctions employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. The measure also requires police to check the immigration status of people they arrest to see whether they face deportation orders.
Williamson tried Monday to get an amendment approved in the Senate that would require state employees to report illegal immigrants seeking tax-paid services. No final action was taken on the amendment, which was similar to a House bill that died.
Williamson, of Tulsa, said Oklahoma should not be attractive to illegal immigrants. Immigrants should prove they are U.S. citizens before they can register to vote, get a state identification card or get state-funded medical care.
"I can't believe our citizens of this state don't strongly support that, and I'm going to fight (for) it to the very end both as a state senator and as governor," Williamson said.
The forum -- the third of its kind in four days -- was sponsored by the Northwest Republican Club. About 80 attended the event at the Boulevard Cafeteria.
Sullivan said the federal government should secure the borders and supply immigration agents, but the state has to be involved in making sure immigrants are here legally.
"Anybody that's breaking the law needs to pay the consequences," he said.
Asked later, Paul Sund, spokesman for Gov. Brad Henry, said the governor thinks the state can play a role in the illegal immigration debate, but that any comprehensive solution must come from the federal level because of national security implications.
"In the post 9/11 world, the governor believes very strongly that we must improve border security and enforcement," Sund said.
Istook, who also thinks Oklahoma should make English its official language, said he was troubled that illegal immigrants would be able to vote.
"It is a sacred privilege to be an American citizen to have the right to vote," he said. "I don't want that sacred privilege to be abused."
Tom Roach, the Republican club's president, moderated Monday's forum and asked all the questions of the three Republican candidates.
The three said they would support the winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary.
"We have got to get Brad Henry out of there," Sullivan said.
All three said they supported reducing or eliminating the state's income tax and estate tax.
"Our tax codes push away the people who create the jobs," Istook said.
Sullivan and Williamson said they favor expanding the sales tax. Istook said that likely would create new taxes on services, which would be disruptive.
Rep. Al Lindley, D- Oklahoma City, said he was told last week he had been replaced on the Advancement of Hispanic Students in Higher Education Task Force, despite representing a large number of Hispanics in his south Oklahoma City district.
Lindley claims he was removed because of his vocal opposition to immigration reform requiring state employees to report illegal immigrants seeking state services. He instead supports punishing businesses who hire illegal immigrants.
This position, along with a tiff he had on the House floor last week with a Republican lawmaker, led to his dismissal from the task force, Lindley said.
Damon Gardenhire, spokesman for House Speaker Todd Hiett, said Hiett has been looking to move a Republican onto the task force. Lindley will be replaced with Rep. Shane Jett, R-Tecumseh, who also will lead the committee.
Hiett has been wanting to find a place for Jett - who teaches English as a second language to international students and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese -- on the task force. Jett will be Hiett's second appointment to the committee, Gardenhire said.
JEFFERSON CITY — The Missouri Senate voted Wednesday to crack down on undocumented immigration, giving the Highway Patrol new enforcement authority and punishing contractors who hire undocumented workers on public projects.
The measure passed on a 29-3 vote with significant bipartisan support. The bill, which now can go to the House, represents the toughest set of restrictions on undocumented immigration lawmakers have approved so far.
It also plunged Missouri lawmakers deeply into the explosive debate on immigration reform.
Sen. Bill Alter, a High Ridge Republican, said he was spurred to propose the bill in part after a number of undocumented workers were arrested on a taxpayer-subsidized housing project in O’Fallon.
“Illegal immigrants in this state are taking jobs that should go to Missourians,” said Alter, who added that undocumented immigrants are a drain on the state’s social services and education system.
“This has nothing to do with the fact that they (undocumented immigrants) are good people,” he said.
Under the bill, the Missouri Highway Patrol would undergo training from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on federal immigration laws. The bill also allows all police officers to “investigate, apprehend, or detain” undocumented immigrants and transport them to federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, across state lines if necessary.
Officials at local jails would be required to try to verify that inmates charged with felonies are citizens or lawful U.S. residents. If residence cannot be verified, local jails would have to notify the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The bill also would bar undocumented immigrants from attending public universities in Missouri. The House already has passed a measure that contains a similar prohibition.
At the urging of Democrats, Alter deleted language that would have prevented undocumented immigrants from receiving certain state services such as literacy programs, after-school tutoring, vocational education and the Parents as Teachers program.
Alter also agreed to language from Sen. Tim Green, a St. Louis Democrat, that penalizes contractors who hire undocumented workers on taxpayer-funded projects. Any employer on a public project found to knowingly use undocumented workers would be banned from working on any public contracts for three years.
Still, three Democrats, including Sen. Joan Bray, of St. Louis County, voted against the bill.
“I am not very comfortable with making our Highway Patrol and local law enforcement immigration officers,” said Bray, who described the bill as “anti-immigrant.”
She said that while the bill addressed contractors on public projects, it failed to impose sanctions on other employers who hire undocumented workers. Instead, the bill is mainly tough on undocumented workers, she said.
Cris Medina, executive director of Guadalupe Centers Inc. in Kansas City, decried the legislation as “political grandstanding.”
“It is certainly immigrant-bashing, and it gives an undue responsibility to local law enforcement,” said Medina, whose nonprofit group provides social services to the Latino community.
Alter said he expects the bill, SB 1250, to get a House committee hearing next week.
Also Wednesday, the House gave initial approval to legislation that would make English the language of official proceedings such as meetings of public bodies and court hearings.
Rep. Brian Nieves said many citizens are concerned about the possibility that official proceedings could be conducted in other languages, making them difficult if not impossible to understand. State law does not spell out in which languages such proceedings must be discussed.
“We’re standing on the sovereign ground of the United States, and call me crazy, but it seems logical to me that here in the United States of America that the official proceedings would be in English,” said Nieves, a Republican from Washington.
ATLANTA - Governor Sonny Perdue today signed into law the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act (SB529). The bill was sponsored by State Senator Chip Rogers in the Senate and carried in the House by Representative John Lunsford.
"This bill makes it clear that Georgia is a welcoming state that wants to treat our guests with Southern hospitality," said Governor Sonny Perdue. "But we cannot tolerate activity that distracts us from our ability to embrace those who come here legally."
SB529 requires citizenship verification for individuals using Georgia's public services to ensure they are legally eligible to receive those services. It also requires citizenship verification of state employees and employers with state contracts and subcontracts. The bill requires that businesses compensating undocumented employees more than $600 a year may not claim wages as an allowable business expense, and requires a six percent state withholding tax for all nonresident aliens. The bill gives law enforcement agencies the tools they need to work more closely with federal officials to enforce immigration laws in Georgia. Georgia's new immigration law will help ensure Georgia's public safety by giving law enforcement the authority to crack down on human trafficking and check the legal status of anyone charged with a felony or DUI.
"We recognize that immigration is ultimately a national issue that needs a national solution," said Governor Perdue. "Because we need to know who is living here in Georgia, and for that matter, who is living in our country."
Last
week, immigration agents trumpeted the arrests of 1,187 illegal workers in a
massive sting on a single company, but they acknowledge that they relied on
old-fashioned confidential informants and an unsolicited tip to get their
investigation going.
It didn't
have to be that hard.
The IRS
and the Social Security Administration routinely collect strong evidence of
potential workplace crimes, including names and addresses of millions of people
who are using bogus Social Security numbers, their wage records, and the
identities of the bosses who knowingly hire them.
But they
keep those facts secret.
"If the
government bothered to look, it could find abundant evidence of illegal aliens
gaming our system and the unscrupulous employers who are aiding and abetting
them," said Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R., Ariz.).
The two
agencies, Knight Ridder found, do not analyze their data to root out likely
immigration fraud - and they won't share their millions of records so that law
enforcement agencies can do that, either.
Privacy
laws, they say, prohibit them from sharing their files with anyone, except in
rare criminal investigations.
But the
agencies don't use the power they have.
The IRS
doesn't fine even those employers who commit the most egregious violations and
repeatedly submit inaccurate data about their workers. Social Security does
virtually nothing to alert citizens whose Social Security numbers are being used
by others.
Evidence
abounds within their files. One internal study found that a restaurant company
had submitted 4,100 duplicate Social Security numbers for workers. Other firms
submit inaccurate names or numbers for nearly all of their employees. One
child's Social Security number was used 742 times by workers in 42
states.
"That's
the kind of evidence we want," said Paul Charlton, the federal prosecutor in
"Anything
that suggests they had knowledge... is a good starting point," Charlton said.
"If you see the same Social Security number a thousand times, it's kind of hard
for them to argue they didn't know."
Congress
and bureaucrats have watched the problem grow for more than a
decade.
An
estimated seven million unauthorized workers are gainfully employed in the
They also
work at airports, seaports, nuclear plants, and other sites vulnerable to
Those are
the sites where immigration officials have focused their attention. But on
Thursday, they announced a new push toward arresting bosses who hire
unauthorized workers.
Homeland
Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has asked Congress for access to the secret
earnings files, a tool that he says would help "get control of this illegal
workforce."
In last
week's busts at plants nationwide belonging to Ifco Systems North America Inc.,
a Houston-based maker of wooden pallets, more than half the workers were using
invalid or stolen Social Security numbers, authorities
said.
"We need
to be able to... spot that kind of widespread abuse and not really just have to
wait for tips," Chertoff said.
The IRS
wants to protect the privacy of its records because disclosing them might lead
companies and employees to stop reporting income and paying taxes and go
underground, where exploitation is more certain. IRS Commissioner Mark Everson
told Congress in February: "At least now, we are collecting some taxes in these
areas, and we are working to collect even more."
The
records at issue are earnings reports, sent by employers along with money
withheld for taxes and Social Security.
They
contain workers' names and Social Security numbers, and when they don't match
Social Security records, the information is set aside in the Earnings Suspense
File. Created in 1937, the file contains about 255 million unmatched wage
reports representing $520 billion paid to workers but not credited to their
Social Security earnings records.
Typos and
name changes can cause wage reports not to match Social Security records. But
increasingly, officials cite unauthorized workers using bogus Social Security
numbers as a driving force behind the mismatches.
Incorrect
files mushroomed during the 1990s, as migrants poured into the
Social
Security's inspector general Patrick O'Carroll told Congress in February, "We
believe the chief cause of [unmatched] wage items... is unauthorized work by
noncitizens."
The IRS
also receives the mismatch information. It tries to match workers involved to
its records, then investigates whether the workers are paying
taxes.
Particularly
disturbing is that possibly millions of the Social Security numbers belong to
others. In
"What do
you think we'd find if we had the ability to analyze all of their information?"
asked Kirk Torgensen,
Firms
in the Know?
Internal
federal studies suggest some companies are aware of the illegal status of their
employees. Auditors have found:
• About
8,900 of the nation's six
million employers account for 30 percent of inaccurate
reports.
• Ten
states account for 48 percent
of the
• Some
companiesrepeatedly have
reporting problems, including 43 that made the worst-100 list for 16 straight
years. One company submitted 33,000 errant earnings reports in a single
year.
- Liz Chandler