TAHLEQUAH — Following the recent passage of Arizona’s stringent immigration law, one Oklahoma lawmaker is looking to follow suit.

Last month, Arizona passed a law requiring state and local police to check the status of people when there’s a “reasonable suspicion” they might be illegal immigrants. Officers are to arrest people who are unable to provide proof they are in the country legally.

In 2007, Oklahoma passed the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act to eliminate most public assistance and taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal immigrants and to discourage employers from hiring them. The act was spearheaded by Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore, who is now looking to introduce new legislation mirroring Arizona’s immigration law.

Terrill said he’s believes it’s time to “slowly but surely roll back the welcome mat for illegals.” His legislation would add asset seizure and forfeiture provisions for immigration-related crimes and harsher penalties for undocumented immigrants caught with weapons.

Earlier this month, Gov. Brad Henry indicated he is opposed to any new immigration legislation, saying he could not support an effort to follow Arizona’s example in Oklahoma.

The Daily Press conducted an unscientific, online poll, asking readers how they feel about the law. Of 377 respondents – an unusually high number of participants for Daily Press poll – 63 percent said they are all for it, and hope Oklahoma follows suit, even if it costs taxpayers to do so. Twenty-four percent, or 89 respondents, said they believe the Arizona law to be unconstitutional, that it smacks of racial profiling and they don’t like it. Eleven percent, or 43 respondents, said they want something done about illegal status, but suspect Arizona’s law may go too far. Two percent, or seven respondents, said they don’t know or are undecided.

Local resident Gary Gore, also a Republican, supports Terrill’s efforts.

“I am for a government of laws,” said Gore. “I am for obeying the laws on the books. I am for immigration, but I am against illegal immigration.”

Gore compared Arizona’s new immigration law to fixing a leaky pipe.

“If you have a leak in your house, you call a plumber,” he said. “Do you mop up the water first or do you find the leak and turn it off? You find the leak and stop it, and that’s what they did in Arizona.”

Many opposed to the new law say that asking for documentation is akin to racial profiling, and that it could eventually affect everyone’s civil liberties. Gore disagrees.

“I find that strange that people say if we ask for papers, it’s just like Nazi Germany,” said Gore.

“If I get pulled over, the police would ask me for a driver’s license and insurance verification. Those are papers.”

Gore is uncertain about how to handle the illegal immigrants who are already living and working in the U.S., but said former President Ronald Reagan’s amnesty program in the 1980s did little to fix the problem.

“What to do with those who are already here is a big question,” he said. “Some have been here for a period of time and have tried to go to school and become citizens. Maybe we can do something with them, but amnesty is a broad word. I suppose we have to start someplace.”

Isabel Baker, longtime local Democrat, doesn’t think Oklahoma should follow Arizona’s example, but adds the federal government has dragged its feet too long on immigration reform.

“I think President Obama should put immigration on the list of top priorities,” said Baker.

“President [George W.] Bush tried very hard to get immigration reform, wanting Congress to act, and they wouldn’t. Maybe Congress will be more willing now that so many new problems have arisen because of no federal laws to protect all of us.”

Kathy Tibbits, a Stilwell attorney, said it would be difficult to craft a law that comports with the Equal Protection Clause.

“Already, traffic roadblocks are legal everywhere and can be used to screen for legal violations,” said Tibbits. “In Arizona, racial stereotyping will be used to skip past those who descended from a fair-skinned European background, like in Nazi Germany. The constitutional challenge will probably focus on statistics about brown people being subjected to a higher level of law enforcement compliance.”

Tibbits wondered how a similar law in Oklahoma would affect American Indians.

“Oklahoma has over 10 percent Native American Indian population,” said Tibbits. “Would any of the 39 American Indian nations here challenge an Oklahoma law that disproportionately impacted Indians because they look indigenous? Um, yep, I bet so.”

John Price, also a Democrat, believes Arizona’s law chips away at Americans’ civil liberties.

“Seems like a lot of folks have forgotten what’s engraved on the pedestal of our magnificent Statue of Liberty: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’” wrote Price in an e-mail interview.

“I, for one, have not forgotten it, nor have I forgotten that my own ancestors were immigrants, as no doubt were the ancestors of most of our Oklahoma legislators. Shame on any of them who would follow the lead of Arizona in ignoring our nation’s history and who seem willing even to put our precious civil liberties at risk to keep them all out.”