Mexican Government Targets Oklahoma; State Lawmaker Calls for Tough Response

UPDATE

“Obviously, we have struck a nerve. No telling how many millions of dollars have been flowing to Mexico out of Oklahoma; a large portion of it, due to narcotics trafficking and illegal aliens who work for cash, pay no taxes, and then send it by wire straight to Mexico. Our state’s new regulations on the wire transfers of money have obviously put a dent in this flow of cash to Mexico, and serve as a great tool for law enforcement to identify those engaged in such activity.”
- Oklahoma State Senator Anthony Sykes (R-Moore/Duncan)


In response to the Mexican government’s efforts to “bully” the people of Oklahoma through a trade war, state Rep. Randy Terrill today called for imposing “much tougher sanctions on illegal aliens.”

“This represents an attempt by a foreign nation to interfere with the sovereign actions of a U.S. state,” said Terrill, R-Moore. “We clearly not only have the right, but the responsibility to legislate for the public health, safety, morals and welfare of our citizens – not theirs.

“The Mexican government should know that the people of Oklahoma will not be bullied or intimidated by anyone, anywhere.”

This week the Mexican House of Representatives passed a resolution denouncing U.S. states that impose remittance taxes and calling upon the Mexican government to take trade measures against those states.

The resolution specifically targets Oklahoma, saying remittance legislation enacted in this state is an “immoral, abusive and harmful” act against “immigrants’ rights.”

The resolution calls on the Mexican Foreign Affairs Ministry to ask Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry to eliminate the fee (which he does not unilaterally have the authority to do) and urges the Mexican Government to suspend all of its purchases of products originating in Oklahoma.

Last year, Oklahoma lawmakers voted to assess a 1-percent fee on funds wired out of the state. Revenue collected from the fee is deposited in a “Drug Money Laundering and Wire Transmitter Revolving Fund.”

The fee does not single out any one group of individuals

Terrill noted the proposed sanctions on Oklahoma appear to be a violation of the NAFTA agreement that could result in U.S. countermeasures on Mexico as provided under the NAFTA accords, and that Oklahoma lawmakers also have the ability to respond at the state level.

“If they want to talk about trade sanctions, then they need to first start by cutting off all the dope coming into Oklahoma from Mexico and the disaster of Mexican citizens who are being pushed into Oklahoma by the shamefully dysfunctional Mexican government, where they are draining tax dollars in the areas of health care, education, welfare and corrections,” Terrill said

“On a daily basis, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics investigates cell groups tied to some of the most powerful drug cartels in Mexico. Annually, millions of dollars in illegal drugs are coming into Oklahoma from these Mexican cartels for nationwide distribution, and millions of dollars in illegal drug proceeds are smuggled or wired back to the Mexican bank accounts of drug traffickers. Law-abiding citizens are not negatively impacted by The Wire Transfer Fee. These individuals are able to redeem the fee on their income taxes,” said Darrell Weaver, director of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

“A huge share of the drug problem in Oklahoma is clearly tied to narcotics exported from Mexico along the I-35 corridor,” Terrill said.

He said Oklahoma lawmakers would be fully justified under international law to respond to the Mexican government’s provocations with improved countermeasures against drug and alien smuggling from Mexican states.

“If they really want to pick this fight with Oklahoma, then I will be happy to immediately introduce or amend legislation calling for the state’s current asset-seizure and drug-forfeiture laws to be extended to all immigration-related offenses,” Terrill said. “I’d also like to have good cause to advance legislation denying state-issued birth certificates to children born to illegal-alien parents. And we should restrict the actions of Mexican consulars in Oklahoma who often assist illegal aliens attempting to establish permanent residence and find employment in the United States.

“I do however, urge the Mexican Congress to support a labor ‘boycott’ of Oklahoma by investing in sustainable job creation at home,” added Terrill. “I will encourage our in-state development experts to assist them. It will help improve the employment rate for U.S. citizens and law-abiding immigrants during this national recession.”

Moore (Oklahoma) is Booming with New Businesses

In spite of the current economy struggles, new businesses continue to open in Moore, Oklahoma.

Moore City leaders said the community's location, which is located off Interstate 35, has had a positive impact on their economic standing.

Sen. Anthony Sykes (R-District 24) said first impressions are also making a difference.



Developers are still planning to open a new shopping center in the area, which will include Bed Bath & Beyond, Pet Smart and Chick-Fil-A.

"Sales are strong," City Manager Stephen Eddy said. "We're pretty well countering what we're hearing in the national news here."

As the economy slows, city leaders of Moore remain optimistic. They call themselves "Forward Thinking" and plan to stay that way, which is a big selling point for big businesses.

PUBLIC MEETING ON I-35 FRONTAGE ROADS

PUBLIC MEETING
ON I-35 FRONTAGE ROADS

The City of Norman is hosting a public meeting to discuss I-35 Frontage Roads between Tecumseh and Main on Monday, May 19 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Norman Holiday Inn in the Main Ballroom.

The City of Norman has initiated an analysis of the I-35 Frontage Road system, and is seeking public input. The analysis will evaluate current conditions and lay the groundwork for possible improvements in the area. The analysis will include consideration of one-way frontage roads. The results of the analysis will help guide future improvements, and will include consideration of ODOT plans to improve I-35 in the area.

The team is seeking public input and assistance in the development of plans. The first of two public meetings is scheduled for Monday, May 19 at 7:00 p.m. at the Norman Holiday Inn. There will be a brief presentation, and then a series of stations where the team will be asking for the public’s input on current concerns and the future of these corridors. An additional public meeting, where possible improvement scenarios will be discussed is tentatively scheduled for later this summer.

“This is an important analysis, given the role of businesses located along I-35 in our community and the importance of the corridor in our transportation system” said Norman’s Shawn O’Leary, Director of Public Works. “We really hope that residents, members of the business community, retailers and general users of the Frontage Road system will participate and give their input.”

Should Private Companies Be Allowed To Own Our Roads?

As a member of the House of Representative's
Transportation Committee I was able to closely
observe one of the most controversial issues of
the past legislative session. At issue is
Oklahoma's membership in a group known as
the North America SuperCorridor Coalition
(NASCO), the desire of big corporations to
enhance the movement of Chinese-manufactured
goods throughout North America, the possible
privatization of new state and federal highways,
NASCO's desire to deploy sophisticated tracking
devices along I-35 and clear attempts towards
the creation of a closer economic and political
union between Canada, the United States and
Mexico.

The depth of this subject matter is nearly
overwhelming and because of it's complexity I
only have time to talk about a small segment of it
in this update. I take the duty of informing my
constituents of these events very seriously and thus
look forward to continuing to update you on these
issues in the future.

In last week's update I talked about what I feel is
the inappropriate and frightening alliance of big
business with big government. Nowhere is this
abuse more clear than when big companies buy
long term leases of public roads. You can only
imagine how your power as a citizen is minimized
when a big (and likely foreign owned) corporation has
complete control over a public road on which you
depend in order to get where you need to go.

The issue of private ownership of public roads is in its
infancy in Oklahoma but growing after Texas has
planned out the construction of the Trans-Texas
Corridor (TTC) network over the next 50 years to be
financed by Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras
de Transporte, S.A., (Cintra) a foreign investment
consortium based in Spain. Cintra will own the
leasing and operating rights on TTC highways for
50 years after the construction is complete.

The TTC initiative begun in 2002 focused on building a
superhighway parallel to Interstate 35. It seems that
proponents of this privately owned super transit
corridor intend on linking Mexican ports through
Oklahoma to an inland port to be located in Kansas
City and from there to various distribution points
throughout North America.

A communist Chinese owned company known as
Hutchison Ports Holdings is paying billions to
deepen the Mexican ports of Manzanillo and
Lazaro Cardenas in anticipation of the arrival of
container mega-ships capable of holding up to
12,500 containers currently being built for
Chinese shipping lines. These ports would likely
serve as a starting point for Chinese goods that
would be distributed into the United States along
the super highway corridor.

The aforementioned group, NASCO, is not only
advocating for an I-35 trade corridor but is also
pushing for the creation of a tracking system
known as NAFTRACS to be put in place along
I-35. This technology would be developed in
part by a joint venture owned by Hutchison
Ports Holdings. NAFTRACS has been described
by NASCO as a program that provides
management tools for mitigating or minimizing
traffic congestion and collecting the status of
certain items in transit. The data generated by
these sensors would be shared with the joint
venture although it is not clear if the data would
be shared with the Chinese government owners
of the joint interest. In May of this year, NASCO
requested that the Oklahoma Department of
Transportation sign a letter stating that ODOT
was looking forward to participating in the
tracking program.

During the last legislative session it was discovered
that Oklahoma is a dues paying member of NASCO.
In other words your taxpayer dollars are helping
finance this organization. In the next few weeks
Senator Randy Brogden (R-Owasso) will be filing a
bill which I intend to co-sponsor that will remove
Oklahoma from theNASCO coalition. And, as your
Representative I am committed to opposing any
attempts to allow private ownership of public roads.


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State Representative Jason W. Murphey
Vice-Chairman Homeland Security Committee
State Capitol Building Room #400B
2300 North Lincoln Blvd
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
1(405) 557-7350 (Phone)
1(800) 522-8502 X 350
1(405) 962-7660 (Fax)
www.HouseDistrict31.com
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