EDMOND — Although illegal immigration is a heavily divided political issue, many say the recently announced deferred action policy will help businesses fill jobs.

In June Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that young people who were brought to the United States illegally will be able to remain and work in the country for two years. But a few criteria must be met, according to the release. President Barack Obama supports this action.

According to the mandate, these people must have come to the U.S. before the age of 16, are younger than 30, have lived in the country for at least five years before June 15, are currently in high school or have graduated from there and do not have a felony conviction, a “significant misdemeanor offense,” or multiple misdemeanors.

This will all be handled on a “case-by-case” basis, Napolitano said.



Applying the Announcement

Oklahoma City attorney Michael Brooks-Jimenez, an immigration attorney, said the mandate isn’t exactly a path to citizenship, but did say it would afford many young people the opportunity to get a Social Security card, driver’s licenses and the ability to get other jobs.

“Win or lose it’s going to have a lasting effect,” Brooks-Jimenez said.

Since the announcement, Brooks-Jimenez said his phone has been ringing constantly with people wanting to know how the law will affect them. He said at this point he is not sure — the details still have 37 days left in the 60 days after the announcement to get worked out.

When asked about proving some parts of the law, Brooks-Jimenez said the ages and the years spent in the country could be proven using public school records, medical records or even a birth certificate from the country they came from.

Other parts, however, are more hazy. He said a significant misdemeanor falls on shaky ground, but said charges such as a DUI or marijuana possession could possibly disqualify people from the act. He said at this point he has no idea what multiple misdemeanors are.

“I think those things are going to develop as we get more detail,” he said.

At the Heartland Landscape Group, an Edmond-based company, Brian Courtney, co-owner of the company, said this law could definitely give him a better selection of employees. Courtney said his company doesn’t hire workers who don’t provided proper documentation.

“We require all of our employees to have proper documentation,” said Chad Hetrick, Heartland co-owner.

Courtney added this would also give them another layer of verification to ensure employees are legal.

“It’s being more legal, more fair for everybody,” said Courtney, who has mostly Hispanic employees.

He said the law probably won’t make a big difference on their work force.

“Most of our guys know where we stand on that position,” Courtney said. “If we ask them to bring somebody, we don’t have problems because we don’t allow it.”

Although Courtney and Hetrick say they don’t have trouble finding staff, they added that some physical labor jobs might because many entail seasonal work.

Courtney added that he’s heard of companies that, because of low turnout, hire illegals or those with questionable paperwork.

But he said if it helps those struggling for employees, then it can have a positive effect overall on labor-based jobs.

“If it helps any manual labor type company — whether it’s roofing, concrete or masonry — I think it helps all of us,” Courtney said.

Brooks-Jimenez cautions people to not act too soon because the law is getting clarified. He said many lawyers who don’t know what they’re doing on the subject might cause someone looking to stay in the country more harm than good.

“People need to wait two months before we have the details,” he said.



By the Numbers

According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics, an estimated 11.5 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the U.S. in January 2011, the most recent available statistics. This is down from 11.6 million in 2010.

Those numbers have held at about the same since it was at 10.5 million in 2005 when DHS began to do an annual check on the number of immigrants.

About 1.4 million unauthorized immigrants could benefit from the Obama administration’s deportation policy change, according to estimates by the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization. Those numbers are matched to the center’s 2010 immigrant estimation of 11.2 million illegal immigrants.

The center also says about 81 percent of immigrants are Hispanic.

In Oklahoma County, the Hispanic population has increased by 89 percent, jumping from about 57,000 in 2000 to about 108,000 in 2010, according to the center. That means Hispanics make up 15 percent of the county’s population of 718,633.

Logan County only has a 5 percent Hispanic population out of its 41,848 people, but it has seen an increase of 120 percent since 2000.

Overall, the state of Oklahoma has only 9 percent of its population represented by Hispanics, but 63 percent of that number are born in the U.S. In the state, the median age for this group is 23 years old, but for those native-born, it’s 14, for those foreign-born it’s 32.



Political Policy

Much has been made about the administration’s affirmative action in implementing this deferment.

Many, like Brooks-Jimenez, said the announcement was a ploy to secure the Latino vote in the November election against Republican opponent Mitt Romney, a possible X-factor in who will be president.

Others say it’s a patch because the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, has stalled in Congress. The act would provide permanent residency status to certain immigrants who graduate from American high schools and move on to college or the military.

Those who oppose the act say fraud could be likely with such a policy.

Locally, Congressman James Lankford, R-Edmond, said federal immigration policy reform is needed.

In a statement about the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Arizona immigration law, which struck down three parts, but returned one part to the Ninth Circuit that allows police to verify someone’s legality, Lankford said states should determine immigration enforcement in connection with federal law.

Lankford’s November opponent, Edmond Democrat Tom Guild, a former political science professor at the University of Central Oklahoma, said Congress needs a long-term solution, but seemed satisfied with a patch.

“In the meantime, this is a sensible and humane way to deal with the innocent children of undocumented immigrants who were brought to this country and in some cases have no memories of or loyalty to any country other than the United States,” Guild said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, called the immigration law an amnesty, or a pardon for past offenses.

“This new immigration policy is another effort to receive votes during an election year,” Inhofe said in a press release.

He added that this isn’t the first time the president has “shown contempt for our nation’s immigration laws.”

Obama said the order is not amnesty or immunity or even a path to citizenship, but a “stopgap measure” that would give young people the ability to work.

“These are young people who study in our schools, they play in our neighborhoods, they’re friends with our kids, they pledge allegiance to our flag,” Obama said in a June White House speech. “They are Americans in their heart, in their minds, in every single way but one — on paper.”

Romney calls the U.S. immigration system broken, but has not specifically said whether he supports the deferred action process. He has called for a system that is “optimized for today’s economy,” according to his campaign website.