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June 4, 2008

Immigration bill on hold

Author plans to pursue legal action if warranted

Mark Schlachtenhaufen

EDMOND — A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction preventing certain portions of HB 1804, Oklahoma’s tough, controversial new immigration law, from taking effect July 1.

Since the bill was passed during the 2007 legislative session, opponents have called the law, the object of multiple lawsuits, mean spirited. Meanwhile, public support for the law has remained high.

State Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, author of the bill, said he was out of the office putting up campaign signs and didn’t hear until after noon that a judge with the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Oklahoma issued the 17-page opinion.

In a statement, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said the preliminary injunction is not a final ruling, and the state would respond when a hearing on the permanent injunction is scheduled.

Terrill said he is weighing his options, including contacting the same groups that helped draft the language in the law to plan future action. Terrill said he would be willing to take the matter to a higher appellate court and all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

In the lawsuit filed in February, plaintiffs asked the District Court to block specific employer-related provisions rather than the entire law, a different strategy than earlier attempted lawsuits.

According to the opinion, the plaintiffs, which include the State Chamber and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, held that the sections of the law in question could not be enforced as they “improperly conflict with federal law and are thus preempted...”

Defendants Gov. Brad Henry and Edmondson contended that the plaintiffs could not show that they would suffer any injury from the law.

Terrill said more than three-fourths of the law, including sections regarding employment with public agencies, are unaffected by the court order.

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