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Oklahoma law targeting illegal workers had some unforeseen results
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| Contributor | Gerald Farinas |
| Last Edited | Gerald Farinas Feb 10, 2008 10:36pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Chicago Tribune |
| News Date | Monday, February 11, 2008 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The splintered trees, downed branches and piles of wood still littering nearly every neighborhood of this sprawling city two months after a devastating ice storm stand as a testament to something more than the ferocity of nature.
The debris is also a sign of the effectiveness ofOklahoma's new law intended to drive illegal immigrants out of the state -- the strictest such statute in the nation.
The branches are still here, many of the law's critics say, because the undocumented workers who would have cleaned them up are not.
"You really have to work hard at it to destroy our state's economy, but we found a way," said state Sen. Harry Coates, the only Republican in the state Legislature to vote against the immigration law. "We ran off the workforce."
Three months after the law took effect Nov. 1, anecdotal indications are mounting that many of Oklahoma's estimated 100,000 illegal immigrants have fled the state. But so are indications that the new law is triggering unforeseen consequences.
Construction companies that relied on undocumented laborers are having trouble completing jobs. Business is down sharply at the stores, groceries and restaurants. |
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