Today a group of current and former Republican elected officials sent a letter to the Oklahoma congressional delegation calling on Congress to pass immigration reform this year.
The former Tulsa County Republican chairman, however, says he’s against it and details his reasons in a comment attached to the bottom of this story.
Signatures include former Governor Frank Keating, former Speaker of the Oklahoma House Kris Steele, and former Oklahoma City mayors Ron Norick and Kirk Humphreys. Additional signatures include two incumbent Oklahoma City city councilors and seven incumbent and former state legislators.
The Honorable Jim Bridenstine
The Honorable Tom Coburn
The Honorable Tom Cole
The Honorable Jim Inhofe
The Honorable James Lankford
The Honorable Frank Lucas
The Honorable Markwayne Mullin
As current and former Republican elected officials, we are writing to urge you to pass immigration reform this year. The current system is broken, and the United States cannot afford to wait any longer to fix it.
The system is broken for the business owners who are unable to grow their businesses due to workforce shortages. These shortages affect both high-skill and low-skill industries alike. When these industries are stifled, so is job creation for all Americans.
The system is broken for farmers who are producing below their capacity when they cannot meet their labor demands. According to the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE), labor shortages in the agriculture industry are causing a loss of over $3 billion in GDP and over $1 billion in farm income.
Not only can we no longer economically afford to wait, but there is also broad support, including Republican voters, for fixing the broken U.S. Immigration System. Recently, the Tea Party Express, Americans for Tax Reform and PNAE released a poll showing that 71% of “Tea Party” aligned Republican primary voters believe it is important to pass reform this year.
We personally understand how difficult it can be to pass complicated legislation, but it is necessary. On behalf of those farmers, ranchers, businesses and individuals in our state supporting reform, we ask that you work with your colleagues to finalize legislation that can be passed into law this year.
Sincerely,
Frank Keating
Governor of Oklahoma
1995-2003
Curt Roggow
State Representative, Enid
1998-2006
David Greenwell
City Councilor, City of Oklahoma City
2011 – present
Shane Jett
State Representative, Shawnee
2004 – 2010
Ron Peters
State Representative, Tulsa
2000 – 2012
Kris Steele
Speaker of the Oklahoma House, Shawnee
2011 – 2012
Meg Salyer
City Councilor, City of Oklahoma City
2008 – Present
Kirk Humprheys
Mayor, City of Oklahoma City
1998 – 2003
Ron Norick
Mayor, City of Oklahoma City
1987 – 1998
Don Armes
State Representative, Lawton
2002 – current
Lee Denney
State Representative, Cushing
2004 – current
Lisa Billy
State Representative, Purcell
2004 – curren
State Representative, Blackwell
2002 – current
What kind of immigration reform do these people want?! Completely open borders? One community with a border running through it? Amnesty for all, with no further restrictions? Secure the borders first, then we’ll talk about amnesty? Cut current legal immigration in half? Or, what? You can’t just say you’re for immigration reform, without knowing a few details. Everyone’s for some kind of reform, because the current system seems to be flawed; but do they want red, yellow, blue, or green reform? A non-specific letter like this is just silly.
They think there are not enough workers? Cut off the easy ride for the able-bodied, and workers will magically appear where there were none before. Too many able-bodied adults have become accustomed to mooching off the tax payers; we all know a few. Instead of opening the borders to new workers, we need to match the current moochers with the open jobs. How do we do that? Cut (wean) them off, and they will find the jobs themselves. (BTW, this also works when little Johnny grows up and has to start paying his own way, parents of 30 year old basement dwellers.)
As the former chairman of the Tulsa County Republican Party I strongly urge our Oklahoma congressional delegation to NOT pass any immigration reform. If they can’t enforce the current laws how long will it be before they stop enforcing the new law, if passed?
I work in the public infrastructure industry and regularly see the backlash of our welfare system. The shortage is not because we don’t have the workforce in Oklahoma it is because folks can make the same or more money by staying on unemployment and welfare.
Last year on one job site a guy walks up looking for work. The company superintendent advised him that yes they were looking for new help and that with no experience they paid $12-12.50 per hour. The guys says he needs $18 per hour. He then pulls out a piece of paper listing all the government benefits he is getting. The list of benefits was more than the $12-12.50 wage and $18 per hour was just over what he was averaging from the government. WHY SHOULD HE WORK!
The issue with immigration is the same as it has been for the past 150 years. The railroad barons of the 1800’s shipped in cheap Chinese labor in order to cut the American labor cost. The unionization movement during the early 1900’s was a result of the same issue. Big business and their “in the pocket” politicians always have and always will continue to fight to keep dirt poor labor workers in order to increase their bottom line.
The free enterprise system will only work if the playing field is level and equal to all. Taxpayer incentives, illegal labor, free trade agreements and open borders with third world countries will only serve the interest of the big business community and will continue to sink small business and the middle class that built this nation.
NO to immigration reform and YES to enforcement of the current immigration laws.
Ron Gifron: Dead on. JBA, you have a position that gives you a voice in the OKGOP. I hope you will send our delegation a grass-roots letter in opposition to “immigration reform (in its usual form/amnesty/open borders),” signed by yourself and by many other county chairs from across the state.
Tom Shup: Thank you, J.B.! Well said all the way.
Frank Keating is a bona fide member of the establishment .I don’t think he even lives in Oklahoma anymore. My former representative, Ron Peters was always squishy on letting illegal aliens mooch off the system. I pushed for a few years to get him to sponsor a bill to disallow illegal aliens from being able to attend our universities and get in-state tuition rates! Were Frank and Ron good stewards of our tax dollars? I think not.
CDaniel: Workforce shortages, my foot! Just this week I’ve had two people ask me if I knew where they could get a job. Those employers who complain of workforce shortages want workers in a condition of peonage so that they can pay a wage tilted down by their desperate condition.
I also agree that we need to lower benefits for those who remain unemployed for a long time, thus to encourage those folks to go out and scratch for their money, like most people do.
Above all, don’t “reform” the immigration laws until you seal the border and enforce the laws we already have.
Thank you, J.B., for your excellent and real-world example. The list above should be a list of people who are ignored and never elected to office again. They obviously are out of touch with the real world.
Legal immigration is a wonderful thing – members of my family are direct first generation immigrants, in fact. They followed the rules and did it right. The REASON the system is broken should be the question. It has been done on purpose, by those who would financially and politically gain.
As always, follow the money.
Steve, like you and millions of others, I am the result of legal immigration to the United States. Those who favor illegal immigration try to point to those of use opposed as somehow being inhumane, insensitive, callous. Not the case. We simply believe in the rule of law. Has nothing to do with ethnicity or skin color or language spoken. Has everything to do with the fiber of this country; if we don’t rule by law, we will eventually be outlawed in our own nation.