Governor Stitt Signs Illegal Immigration Bill Only to Open Door To VISA Taskforce

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt Signs Illegal Immigration Bill Only To Open Door To VISA Taskforce

April 20th, Governor Stitt played at giving with one hand and taking away with the other.

On the one hand, Governor Stitt signed ‘controversial’ ‘immigration’ bill HB4156; a solid bill that provides deportation and fines and/or jail time for those found to commit ‘impermissible occupation’, defined thusly

“A person commits an impermissible occupation if the person is an alien and willfully and without permission enters and remains in the State of Oklahoma without having first obtained legal authorization to enter the United States.”

All Senate Republicans voted for the bill as did all Republicans of the House. Democrats voted in blocks against the bill in both chambers.

While many ‘press’ headlines center around the word ‘controversial’, only one headline contained the fact that an Executive Order on immigration was signed by the Governor on the same day as his signature was inked to the bill.

During a press conference of the signing, the Governor announced the task force, saying, “Our hands have been forced by the unprecedented border security crisis that has seen more than 52,000 Chinese Nationals, along with terror organizations, illegally infiltrate and wreak havoc on our great nation and state,” he says. “Simply put, we will not tolerate threats to our communities and we will not become home to sanctuary cities.”

So this bill is about Chinese nationals?

Since Oklahoma passed a state question deciding the use of medical marijuana in 2018, there has been a steady rise in violent crime in once idyllic rural countrysides thanks to Chinese national-run marijuana grows. This has largely stemmed from the fact that the Oklahoma legislature not only got off flat-footed on the creation of laws to regulate the ‘medical’ marijuana industry after the question was passed, but then found themselves apparently unprepared to regulate the NEW state agency they created to regulate the industry.

Sadly, and thanks mainly to these factors, Oklahoma is now #1 in illegal importation of marijuana – GO SOONERS!

Reading the Executive Order signed directly after the bill, is instructive. Here are the first two whereas’:

Note the wording in the second paragraph, “…honest, hardworking Hispanic or OTHER international migrant populations here…”. How is anyone here in the state illegally, honest. This begs many questions then. Are shoplifters honest? What about murderers?

The EO then goes on to blame the Biden administration for not issuing VISAs or permits (how can he be blamed when he’s allowing millions of people to flood the borders of this nation illegally – there’s no possible way to keep up with the backlog that kind of volume of humanity would generate) to those immigrants who have “long filled gaps in Oklahoma’s workforce”.

In fact, it’s almost as though the EO says, ‘We have a bunch of Chinese Nationals who are causing crime in Oklahoma, so we’re going to get these people out of the state, but everyone else here illegally is honestly working to fill jobs too good for legal Oklahomans and we need them to stay, so we’re going to figure out a way to make that happen’.

Here is what the Task Force is assigned to do.

Who will serve ON the Task Force?

Look at #5. Is Oklahoma a border state? What about an international airline hub? No? Why then is there a Mexican Consul located in Oklahoma?

According to the largest post to the Oklahoma Mexican Consul page on the Mexican Consulate website, the Oklahoma Consul can help to REGISTER Hispanics to VOTE. As to what the Twitter page for the Oklahoma Mexican Consul says, one wouldn’t know unless one was fluent in Spanish.

According to the Oklahoman, the Mexican Consul was opened last year (5.20.23), to provide people with their “Mexican passports, birth certificates and other government-issued documents” in order to keep them from having to journey to Little Rock, AK, Kansas City, MO, or Dallas, TX – the latter of which is a four hour drive from Oklahoma City.

HB4156 is being lauded among Conservatives as helping to stem the tide of illegal immigration in Oklahoma, but clearly, that’s not the bottom line. If the bill is going to be signed and touted as ‘controversial’ yet the Governor goes on to sign an EO for a task force to make ‘honestly’ illegal aliens, legal, what exactly does the bill mean then?

No, Oklahomans do not want high crime rates – certainly not drug trafficking crime which tends to be graphically violent – but Chinese nationals are not the only ones here in Oklahoma committing drug crimes.

In January, Representative Justin Humphrey – a former law enforcement officer with years of experience in drug court – filed HB3133 to have drug trafficking become an act of terrorism. This bill blew up in the media, but not for the terrorism designation for drug trafficking. It blew up because he identified two Mexican cartels – the Sinola and New Age – as primarily trafficking in fentanyl, a drug responsible for many tens of thousands of deaths across the US and a skyrocketing number in Oklahoma according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Because Humphrey also used the word ‘Hispanic’ in the bill, a firestorm ensued in which Humphrey was accused of racism. This prompted him to comment, “I believe these continual accusations of racism present an indisputable danger to America freedom and democracy.” (Apparently, the Legislature is aware of this issue and did add fentanyl to the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act this year through SB1280 – a bill that doesn’t contain the word ‘Hispanic’.)

In fact, the Governor’s EO goes out of its way to eliminate any appearance at all of considering a member of the Hispanic population as here NOT ‘honestly’.

Biden won 63% of the Latino vote in 2020 and is now appealing again to Latino voters by saying that they are the reason he won the election against President Donald Trump. According to Oklahoma Watch, Hispanic voters outvoted Black and Asian voters in the 2022 Oklahoma mid-terms by a large margin.

In fact, the RNC helped open an Hispanic Community Center in south OKC, where former Oklahoma Republican Committeewoman, Pam Pollard said they were “also going to be doing voter registration”. Clearly, the Latino vote is important and catering to that vote is something the Oklahoma GOP hopes to do.

Last year, Oklahoma Senator Michael Brooks (D), an Hispanic, proposed a bill to allow illegal immigrants to gain state driver’s licenses. The only thing an illegal person here in Oklahoma had to do to obtain a DL was show that they had been paying their taxes. This ignited a firestorm among Oklahoma citizens who believed that such cards could be used to allow the owner to vote illegally.

So it would seem that politics is out in full force when looking at the scope of HB4156. After all, our Governor is nothing if not a ‘workforce’ governor who sees it as his job to “make Oklahoma the state where it’s easiest to start and grow a business’. Yes, government MUST get out of the way to do that, but that will absolutely not happen by making lawlessness legal and more efficient.

President Biden will undoubtedly go down in history as one of the worst presidents in all American history – especially on immigration. If the President won’t act to stem the tide of people illegally entering the United States, Oklahoma, should act in its own best interest to protect its citizens. It should secure its own borders from those wishing to enter illegally, whether they bring crime and brutality, OR NOT.

Just like President Biden’s student loan bailout is a slap in the face to all the hardworking young people who have worked hard to pay their way through colleges and universities, ANY attempt to give people who come to Oklahoma illegally an end around the immigration system is a slap in the face to those who have come here the right way – the HARD way – the EXPENSIVE way – the way that includes NATURALIZATION.

Today in Oklahoma, rather than a tapestry of Oklahomans of different international backgrounds united together under the Oklahoma flag, we have different areas of our cities and towns devoted to Hispanic populations, or Asian populations, or Islamic populations (including taxpayer sponsored Madrasas) – many of whom came to Oklahoma but can barely speak a word of English.

To this end, Oklahoma has an entire division of the State Department of Education – the Office of English Language Proficiency – which is allocated $1392 for each pupil to be instructed in reading, writing and understanding of the English language.

Cynically, maybe this is the reason the Superintendent of one of the largest Hispanic population schools in Oklahoma is so annoyed about HB4156. Mr. Brewster’s X feed is full of similar posts. Is there a reason that a taxpayer funded Superintendent shouldn’t be fired for advocating lawlessness? Or is lawlessness just really fine anymore – especially if it occurs in the Hispanic population?

Governor Stitt is a professing Christian. Just a basic reading of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible would confirm that Jewish communities did not welcome ‘outsiders’. Yes, they were to be kind to those who lived among them, but they were not to intermarry, or allow others outside their faith to serve in their governments or in their Temples. Why? Because when they let down their guard and assimilated those of other faiths, their communities lost their identity in their God and quickly became affiliated with those of the outsiders.

Thanks in large part to unchecked immigration at the federal level, this country is completely different in values today, including that of national pride, than even during the 1960’s with all its generational upheaval. One has only to look at the demonstrations on college campuses in favor of Hamas – a known terrorist organization – to see that statement as absolute truth.

Should Oklahoma be a state closed to immigration? Of course not. Our country has been richer for the many legal immigrants it has welcomed from across the world over its several hundred years, as is our state. However, Identifying people here in Oklahoma illegally as ‘honest’ is wrong and on the very dangerous downhill side of a very slippery slope.

Allowing Oklahoma to develop its own system for vetting and assimilating people into the state because ‘we need workers’, or because they are already here working, is wrong.

In Biden’s economy, it may be hard for many to feed their families. Are we going to allow these families to steal food from grocery stores because Biden won’t do anything about inflation except print more money? Biden is paying off student loans. Because of this, are we to allow every student who wants to attend a school of higher learning for free to do so?

Actions have consequences and allowing lawlessness – especially lawlessness based on identity – has arguably the most far-reaching and frightening of all to the safety and security of ALL Oklahomans. The bill passed by Oklahomans to protect Oklahomans from unchecked illegal immigration and signed by Governor Stitt is a good bill. The Governor shouldn’t even consider providing an end-around.

Factors Creating Failing Public (Government) Schools

For decades education reformers have attempted to 'restore' luster to the eroding results of government run schools that began in the 1960's with the first federal involvement in state and local education programs (Elementary and Secondary Education Act, 1964, Lyndon Johnson). Just as we've seen of late with the Common Core State Standards Initiative, individual programs have been instituted at various times over the years toward this end, yet all have resulted in lackluster or poor outcomes for the money, training and resources provided.

Why? Because none of the issues effecting government run schools today can be solved by a single initiative, or by throwing money at one or two issues like spaghetti at a wall.

Below, I've attempted to identify a number of items - some of which I've witnessed personally, as a former teacher and parent - that must be addressed in order to return to the pre-60's educational excellence seen here in America for hundreds of years.

Changes to schools and instruments of schooling must come from the local level.

• Urban schools and rural schools aren't similar in socio-economic composition or community needs, yet laws created at the state or federal level force change on all schools.
• Traditionally, school boards allow parents the ability to assist in directing their children’s educations – shifting the responsibility from parents to the state conditions parents to become further removed from the process of educating their children.
• Parenting failures cannot be legislated as these tend to result from lack of values training best addressed by programs provided via churches and charities.

Laws created to address failing schools rarely address the fundamental issues behind the failures.

• Systemic failure results as one ineffective/unproductive law is replaced or augmented by another and then another – in attempt to bring about results largely unattainable via legislative means.

Teacher/Superintendent/School Board organizations are used to draft public school legislation which favors the needs of the educational ‘system’ and not the student and/or parent.

Education legislation and programming features a paucity of education history and research, instead focusing on the newest ‘trends’/programs in education.

• Integrating technology (computers/ipads, etc.) into elementary classrooms actually produce results antithetical to those desired, yet are utilized with consistency and touted as ‘cutting-edge’, which, also, ironically creates a nonexistent need for more funding.
• Replacing veteran teachers with Teach for America teachers replaces tried and true teaching methodologies with unproven methods utilized by skimpily-trained young people.

Today’s education focus is completely wrong-headed.

• Students should not be educated ‘for’ college or the ‘workforce’.
• Classically-based education programs featuring broad-based studies in United States and world history, science, classical literature, the arts and music, have, historically, created students ready and able to take on any challenge presented them.

Though taxpayers should work to create accountability in government, education is not a government function; education is a function of the individual first and community second.
American public education was created from an ideal articulated by both Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.

• Both men believed schools should be created to teach students unable to afford the private tutoring system primarily utilized in their day.
• They believed schools should teach the Bible (the model upon which our Republican form of government was created), America’s very particular system of 3-branch government and free-market economy, and the history of America’s founding.
• Schools were to be created by and through churches or individual community organizations – not as a function of government.

Government has assumed the role of educating its citizens, creating numerous problems.

• Funding:  Each school receives the same amount of money for each student in a seat. This invalidates the principles of America’s free-market economy and creates a system in which mediocrity flourishes because excellence is neither expected nor demanded by those paying for its services.
• Partisanship:  Once education becomes a function of government, it begins to utilize tenets ascribed to government by popular culture, such as “political correctness”.

• This gives rise to a culture lacking in personal responsibility where administration and teachers refuse to make students responsible for their work and grades rather than deal with difficult parents.

• This situation also produces a lack of willingness to hold students responsible for their behavior, creating school climates in which bullying of students and teachers is unchecked.

• Usurpation of parental rights and responsibilities:

• Moving the responsibility for education to the state (and often federal) level relieved parents of their duties to provide for the education of their children by replacing their authority with that of a government official.

• State-empowered school officials necessarily had to create the notion that parents were inadequate to direct the education of their children in order to justify a government wage.

• Parents quickly became trained to see public school as a babysitter rather than a partner in the education of their children as the authority of school officials grew with government funding.

• Usurpation of student rights and responsibilities:

• Once government became responsible for education, education became relegated to a series of hoops (tests) through which a student must jump in order to complete their next task: move to a next grade, graduate, get a job.

• Students are never shown the value of obtaining an education for themselves so education becomes something a student does to please others, not to make their lives better.

• Susceptibility to educational ‘trends’ including:

• Common Core State Standards vs those tailored to meet the educational priorities of parents/students at the local/state level.

• Whole word language assimilation vs reading taught by phonics and an understanding of English phonemes.

• Reformist, community-inspired, explanatory math vs learning traditional, fact-based algorithms and skills.

• World history vs American history

• American history from 1877 to the Present vs American history from the Pilgrims and Founding, to present

• Civics taught in high school vs developmental civics across each grade and stage

Federal government intervention has further usurped the influence of the state, local community and parents, and is now itself responsible for many of the ills plaguing public education today such as:

• Lack of student privacy:

• More and more personal student data must be collected by schools to satisfy the compacts of states with the federal government.

• Digital records are nearly impossible to redact, leaving student records exposed to future employers and educational prospects.

• A perceived need for increased funding:

• The more federal initiatives for which states apply (or are foisted onto them) the more personnel are required to fill out the ever-increasing paperwork necessary to keep the initiative, leading to loss of funds for teachers and needed materials that directly affect the classroom.

• Less flexibility to teach with proven methods and personnel:

• The federal Civil Rights in Education initiative for Teacher Equity forced onto all public school districts for example, is coercing teachers to move among schools dependent upon a set of federal race guidelines set for teachers in relation to student populations, violating the Civil Rights of teachers/students and causing many older teachers to quit the teaching profession.

NON-GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS:

Private organizations in every city can help to create educational excellence by addressing the foundational pillars underlying education failure (as previously described) by devoting resources and funds toward any or all of the following ends:

• Support the ideal that state/federal legislation is not the way to move the needle on educational excellence – that partnering with local charities, churches and non-profits can produce results one-size-must-fit-all legislation cannot

• Community based adult and student English and financial literacy programs are an excellent example of successful business/community partnerships

• Support legislation (or repealer legislation) that:

• Stresses local control of education and prevents intrusion by the federal Department of Education at the state and district levels

• Supports parental rights and responsibilities

• Seeks to move accountability for education from the state/federal level back to the parent/local level 

• Resists the urge to narrow curricula and standards – allowing for classical studies and schools to bloom

• Creation of individual and/or community programs that:

• Develop bridge relationships among schools and businesses to create mentoring/intern opportunities

• Delivers business/vocational leaders who can speak to classes, or in assemblies and share their experiences with students on their level

• Provide scholarship opportunities in areas such as engineering

• Partner with job training programs to identify vocational skills gaps and educate students who desire the training, on how to attain these skills

• Identify private programs that produce educational excellence and partner them with businesses willing to mentor/intern students

• Empower parents to advocate for their children via tuition breaks or educational/job opportunities not available to the general population

Education for those who cannot afford private, individual education (or desire not to utilize a private system) should be provided in America. It should not be paid for in perpetuity via taxpayers, but by parents - whether they are allowed to keep their money for themselves (no earmarked taxes for education) or returned earmarked funds to spend in whatever manner is best for their child. Until parents are allowed (and returned) responsibility for the education of their children, status quo will remain and poor educational outcomes should be expected.

Is Common Core Really Over In Oklahoma?

Some time ago I created the meme above based on the notion we've been fed by the Chambers of Commerce that Common Core is necessary in order to train kids for jobs.  Since the standards were forced onto the national scene through Obama's Race to the Top application, the rallying cry has been that business in America is suffering because we are not properly educating our children to be workers.  We must have an educated workforce in order to stimulate our economy.

Once Common Core was repealed in Oklahoma, and the process created by which new standards will be established, Oklahoma is now officially free of Common Core.  Or are we?

The short answer is NO.  Common Core is the name for a set of educational standards predicated on the notion that children must be "College and Career Ready".  Sadly, this prevailing thought has been steeped through nearly every pore of the business machine through both the Chamber of Commerce and the National Governor's Association.  The standards may now be in Davy Jone's locker, but the idea behind them is not.

Take Governor Fallin's recent Oklahoma Now column, "Education Beyond High School is the “New Minimum” for Success in Today’s Economy”.  Here, she makes the case that the state should drive education in order to secure a better future for individuals when she says,

Solving this problem, however, (of “preparing our citizens to succeed in a more competitive economy”) requires state-level action. It requires a commitment to reform. Above all, it demands recognition that the status quo is no longer adequately serving Oklahoma students in today’s competitive, global job market.

It seems apparent from our Governor’s perspective that the state determines the best course for Oklahoma’s students.

In fact, she closes by saying,

My job as governor is to push forward, to demand more, and to work with teachers, parents, and administrators to ensure our students graduate high school ready to continue their education and become college and career ready. Nothing is more important to the individual prosperity of our students or the continued prosperity of our state.  

I very much disagree with her assessment of her job.  Her job is NOT to demand, it’s a parent’s job to demand.  It’s not her job to ‘ensure’ Oklahoma’s students do anything – it’s the parent’s job to direct the education of their children.  In fact, if you've been a parent, you know you can’t ENSURE anything about your children’s future – all you can do is the best you can do and pray.

Recently, I was in Enid speaking with the Sons and Daughters of Liberty – one of my favorite groups in the state.  A man attended the meeting and began to ask very pointed questions about the course of education in Oklahoma.  Sadly, he quite apparently believed it the state’s job to provide accountability for education.  In his opinion, unless we test public education students rigorously, Oklahoma will continue to suffer poor educational outcomes.

I think the only way to describe the disjointedness of this thought process is to share a comment I made to our Facebook page the other day on just this subject.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Those of us that pay taxes to support public schools are being manipulated by a growing chambercrat/statist cadre who care nothing for students excepting their ability to become employable and drive the economic engine that keeps them at the top of the food chain. If we’re not wise, we’ll soon be asked to genuflect and kiss their rings. I’m not talking entitlement – no 99%’er philosophy here – I’m talking about individual liberty and the fact that the more government grows and the more fingers it has in our lives, the less liberty we have as individuals . School reform should be local, individual and parent-driven – not predicated on automaton-generating sameness tidied up with a red bow to sucker parents into believing their children should be educated by the state solely to get a job when they graduate. True education elevates the individual and provides the foundation for a free society. Today’s education ‘reform’ is the exact opposite.

So what is my definition of education?  This is the definition I provided on my application to serve on one of Oklahoma’s new standards writingcommittees when asked to define College-, Career- and Citizen-Readiness.

Students ready to tackle the challenges of the world are the product of a well-rounded education in a school that provides an environment in which every child is responsible for his or her actions. Students should study a variety of broad, rich subjects such as world history, music, art and classic literature to expand their minds and ignite the desire for learning; however learning isn’t predicated simply upon coursework.

The creation of productive, capable individuals ready to enter the world in whatever capacity they desire requires a mixture of education and expectation. Schools must impart knowledge to students, but also the mechanics of personal responsibility.

Students not taught to take responsibility for their learning, perceive education as a job – a rote mechanical effort done becomes someone else wants it done. When students are allowed to move forward in their education without meeting the requirements of courses as prescribed by the teacher and administration, the student learns that knowledge isn’t important – that ‘school’ is a game to manipulate to their own end.

When students are allowed to behave against expectations without prescription and delivery of a reasonable, identifiable punishment for those behaviors, students are provided no framework for authority. Without a framework for authority, there is no trust. Without trust, students are unable to see the value of education in their lives and learning cannot occur.

Oklahoma can create the best set of standards in the world, but until it is understood that education is a mixture of education and expectation – and follow through on that understanding – Oklahoma will continue to see poor educational outcomes. 

Here’s how the NGA defines College and Career readiness:

A college- and career-ready student is an individual that is ready to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing, academic college courses and in workforce training programs.  College refers to two- and four-year postsecondary schools.  Workforce training programs pertain to careers that offer competitive, livable salaries above the poverty line; offer opportunities for career advancement; and are in a growing or sustainable industry.

*National Governors Association, “Common Core State Standards Initiative: Standards Setting Criteria” (Washington, D.C.: 2009).

With which definition do you most agree?

Garbage. Seriously, just garbage.

The new exciting article for today that made me crazy..."CareerTech director wants to link education, workforce to strengthen Oklahoma's economy.  Oklahoma's CareerTech Director Robert Sommers wants education and business officials to work together to create good jobs in the state and to prepare Oklahomans to fill them".

Not long ago, I wrote a blog entitled, "Made in the USA? Why Common Core Standards Will Never Produce A Stronger America". If you didn't read it (and if you didn't, shame on you ! LOL), my thesis was this,

our current education 'reform' nonsense is not going to prepare any kids for the current, non-technical, public service jobs available today and they shouldn't anyway as that is the job of the hiring company

This interview with Robert Sommers, Governor Fallin's current appointment to a newly created secretary position, "Secretary of Education AND THE WORKFORCE", explains how public schools (taxpayers) should be training kids for jobs (as though they are automatons) and to attend the four year college of their choice (to put more and more kids into the real world in debt without a job in Women's Studies, the major from the college of their choice).

“High school diplomas without any career technical instruction or additional well-rounded technical training really leaves you with an opportunity to continue education, but not very many living-wage job options,” Sommers said. 
“You have to have high academic, plus technical skills, foundation skills — those manifest themselves in CareerTech credentials or college degrees — and that's become the new minimum,” he said.

Gosh, I guess Sommers isn't acquainted with the way it used to be done (and often still is in rural America).  Kids left school at 8th grade (rather than being housed in an educational detention facility until the construct now called 12th grade), went out and found either a tutor (if they were wealthy enough) or a skilled tradesman under whom to apprentice until he could go out and open his own shop.

Even after America became mired in the Industrial Revolution and the notion that machines could do much of the work a set of matched mules or 2 guys on a saw could do, businesses - even those that became enormous industrial giants (FORD for example) - trained those that came to work for them ON THEIR OWN DIME.  These businesses didn't go to the local taxpayer with their hand out and say, "Pardon me ma'am, spare a farthing so I can train my line crew?"

When did American business become encumbered by the idea that it was the duty of the PUBLIC to pay a good portion of their business expense for them?  When did the head of IBM decide it was perfectly fine to join the Chamber of Commerce, give them a big fat check and get them to break the arms of taxpayers to fund their corporate expenses?  Have we ALL become idiots?

If so, SNAP OUT OF IT!

The only voice of reason in this whole article is Oklahoma Businessman Bob Funk, who says,

“Because of the emphasis that has been placed on our students to get a college degree, we've seen a dramatic decline in the number of qualified workers needed for skilled labor jobs,” said Bob Funk, chairman and CEO of Oklahoma City-based Express Employment Professionals.
“We have good-paying jobs that are ready for people, but it's not easy to find the workers to fill jobs in industries like welding, CNC machine programming, CDL truck driving, accounting and IT.”
Funk said educators and leaders should emphasize the opportunities available to young people looking for work in fields that are too often overlooked.
“My advice to job seekers, especially to those without college degrees, is to be sure you learn a skill or a trade, otherwise this economy is very tough,” he said. “Keep applying yourself to the opportunities you do have and work toward the career you want no matter what it takes.”

Well, YES!  Nowhere did Bob say, "Go out and spend your parents money on a useless degree at a college that will warp your world view simply because American education elitists are trying to turn America into a culture of simmering wimps in order to make big bucks and you're too ignorant to see it", but he probably would have driven the point home a lot quicker had he!

I've said it once and I'm sure I'll say it again another hundred times - AMERICANS SHOULD NEVER USE PUBLIC EDUCATION TO PREPARE STUDENTS FOR JOBS!  Public education is to provide basic skills and a set of basic knowledge to those unable to have that provided for them in their homes.  It is not to build a skilled workforce for big business.  Period.