Watch a slide show and read all the stories in a series on the immigration of thousands of people from Casa Blanca to Tulsa.

Read all of the Tulsa World’s coverage of House Bill 1804.

State Rep. Randy Terrill says his law school education didn't include a class on immigration law.

However, the Moore Republican said last week that he believes he has become one of the leading authorities in state government on the subject.

Terrill has been in the spotlight as the chief author of House Bill 1804, an immigration reform measure that he describes as the toughest immigration law in the country and a model for other states that are seeking to get a handle on the issue.

However, others believe it goes too far. They have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the legislation, which is scheduled to take effect Thursday.

U.S. District Judge James Payne has scheduled a hearing for 2 p.m. Wednesday on the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction to stop HB 1804 from taking effect.

Although Terrill, 38, said he has always had an interest in public policy, he believed for much of his life that illegal immigration was more of a federal issue than a state concern, he said.

However, it became apparent to him in recent years that the federal government has "absolutely and utterly" failed to uphold its responsibility to enforce immigration laws, he said.

In such a situation, it is up to the states to take the initiative to uphold the law, he said.

An Alva native and OU law school graduate, Terrill was elected to the House in 2004. He said he asked himself, as a state legislator, what he could do about immigration.

Terrill said it soon became apparent to him that it would take hard work and some help to craft a legally sound immigration reform measure.

He did not take any immigration law classes at OU, so he set about researching the topic at Oklahoma City University's College of Law, he said.

Terrill credited Carol Helm, the director of Immigration Reform for Oklahoma Now; and former state Rep. Bill Graves, whom Terrill described as "a longtime conservative mentor of mine," for their insights.

Still, Terrill's initial effort at comprehensive state immigration reform, House Bill 3119, died in committee in 2006.

The publicity that surrounded that measure prompted about 5,000 advocates for immigrants to rally at the state Capitol.

Terrill said last week that the gathering "backfired" on its organizers, as it led a lot of Oklahomans, who perhaps had not paid a lot of attention to the issue, to make it known that they supported a crackdown on illegal U.S. residents.

Terrill said he has seen information showing that 40 percent of the drug trafficking in the United States is tied in some way to illegal immigration.

"Not all of them are putting roofs on your houses, I assure you," he told a group of Tulsa lawyers last week.

Advocates for immigrants say the vast majority of the undocumented people in the U.S. are hard workers who are just trying to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

They also say that many of the people pushing the hardest for immigration reform describe themselves as Christians yet seem to be lacking the compassion for which Jesus is known.

They wonder whether the real motive behind measures such as HB 1804 is racism.

Terrill is adamant that the effort to secure U.S. borders has nothing to do with race and ethnicity. It has everything to do with trying to put an end to a problem that has far-reaching consequences for all Americans, he said.

As the standard-bearer for HB 1804, Terrill said, he has seen its opponents carrying signs with his face obscured by a red line.

Some observers have speculated that Terrill may use this issue as a springboard to higher office.

Terrill said he would be "less than honest" if he said that possibility hadn't crossed his mind.

However, he said, his pursuit of immigration reform has nothing to do with whatever may lie in his future.

States are stepping in to fill what Terrill called the immigration enforcement "vacuum" left by the federal government, he said.

His legislation has become a model for other states, he said. About a dozen of them have seen similar measures introduced, and that total may approach 30 soon, he said.

Certainly people in those states will be watching closely to see whether Payne allows HB 1804 to take into effect.

David Harper 581-8359
david.harper@tulsaworld.com