Last week Tulsa County?District Judge Jefferson Sellers upheld the constitutionality of a state law dealing with immigration, except for one aspect. That exception involved a provision in the law that Judge Sellers determined was not germane to immigration issues. ?Sellers rejected allegations in a Tulsa County lawsuit that the law known as House Bill 1804, enacted in 2007, created a Bureau of Immigration in Oklahoma and allowed for appropriation and expenditure of public funds in violation of the state constitution.
Small business owners should be aware of the private employer provisions of this law that state that an American citizen who is fired from a company can file a discrimination lawsuit if the company retains an illegal immigrant “who the employing entity knows, or reasonably should have known, is an unauthorized alien hired after July 1, 2008, and who is working in Oklahoma in a job category that requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility” as the fired employee.