Jose Juan Colin started his journey working along a barbed-wire fence line in South Texas, driving heavy posts into the dry earth.

As an undocumented immigrant in 1988, Colin's drive was strong enough to propel him past cultural disorientation and sweat-soaked labor.

"You have that thing called the American dream," Colin said. "At that point, it is the American nightmare."

Colin eventually earned a GED and required course credits at Austin Community College before receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of New Mexico.

Colin is now an assistant professor in the Spanish department at OU.

"It's all about the rule of law, the principle of the thing. I think the taxpayers ought not to be in the business of supporting illegal behavior."

He is one of countless Americans whose lives have been shaped by the U.S. debate over immigration.

Lawmakers across the country rally for immigration reform, and some OU students work to be heard.

"The problem is, there is no process to become a legal citizen," Colin said. "Nobody knows what the process is."

For Colin, the process ended when he gained U.S. citizenship through President Ronald Reagan's Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

While Colin feels lucky to be a citizen, there are at least 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States waiting for a chance, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

The number includes an estimated 85,000 in Oklahoma in 2004.

"We are almost all immigrants. The immigrants of the past are making the immigration laws of today. It bothers me that we haven't learned from the past."

Immigration reform and border security were the main issues at a town hall meeting hosted Thursday by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., at Moore-Norman Technology Center.

Congress will again examine the issue when it reconvenes April 24.

Coburn said he thinks the American people do not trust Congress on the issue of immigration. The assembled crowd applauded that statement as well as attendees' support for deploying U.S. troops to protect the border.

"We don't need these people," said Tom Elmore, an attendee of the meeting, in reference to immigrants. "We appreciate them for coming here and trying to better their lives, but their homeland ought to be a place where they can live. We need to put pressure on Mexico, and I would suggest that putting the military on the border is a pretty good first step."

Immigration Issues

o When Congress reconvenes April 24, it will revisit the immigration issue.

o There are at least 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

o About 85,000 illegal immigrants were residing in Oklahoma in 2004.

o There are 14 undocumented immigrants studying at OU under Senate Bill 596.

o U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., hosted a town hall meeting on the issue Thursday.

Source: Staff reports

During such speeches, four OU students in the back row shook their heads.

One, Beatriz Reyes, zoology and public health junior, said her father immigrated from Mexico.

"I think people forget that illegal immigrants are still human and people act like it's not a big deal," Reyes said. "Without international trade and immigrants, we wouldn't even be who we are today."

Coburn said his first priority is to control U.S. borders, but he does not feel troops are a necessary step. U.S. forces already are strained in the Mideast, he said.

"We can't abandon -- from a personal standpoint -- human beings, whether they are here legally or illegally, and I'm not going to vote to do that," he said. "There's not any way we're going to deport 13 million people. We don't have the capability to do it."

Elsie Urueta, president of the OU Hispanic American Student Association, spoke with the majority when she addressed 10,000 protestors April 1 on the south plaza of the state Capitol.

Urueta, international business senior, said she promotes higher education to Latinos around the state of Oklahoma through work at OU's financial aid office and the Latino Initiative.

The April 1 protest was largely a response to House Bill 3119, which was authored by state Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore. Although the bill has since died in the legislature, Terrill said he expects to see language from the bill resurrected in future legislation.

Terrill said HB 3119 would have required proof of citizenship to register to vote and to receive state government documents such as a driver's license.

The bill also would have ended public aid for undocumented immigrants, including state health care and welfare services.

The bill would have required cooperation between local, state and federal agencies in detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants. Finally, the bill would reverse 2003's Senate Bill 596.

SB 596 offered undocumented immigrants a chance to get in-state tuition if they graduated from a state high school.

The students are required to sign an affidavit, which states they are working toward a U.S. citizenship.

"Illegal aliens will stop coming here if there are no jobs and assistance available," Terrill said.

Urueta said bills such as HB 3119 would create ambiguity as to what she can do for undocumented immigrants.

"There is a student in Tulsa who is valedictorian of his class and really wants to come here," Urueta said. "I don't know now for sure if I will be able to help him."

There are currently 14 undocumented immigrants at OU under the provisions of SB 596, according to the office of enrollment.

Max Mathis, assistant director for international admissions, said it can't be known how many undocumented immigrants are at OU.

OU's enrollment application does contain questions regarding an applicant's citizenship, but that information is not independently verified by the enrollment office.

"We basically go by what the student tells us," Mathis said. "If someone is from El Paso (Texas) or Austin, and they check that they are a permanent resident, we're going to assume they are telling us the truth. We're not going to call immigration and find out."

Maxwell said many OU students are international or exchange students here on either short-term or long-term visas.

For most of these students, however, OU is their first point of contact in America. Students who are undocumented immigrants may have moved to Oklahoma long ago.

"The reality is a lot of those students here in the states feel as much Oklahomans or Americans as anyone else," Maxwell said. "They may have been born in Mexico, but for the last 15 years they have been going to Putnam City schools."

Diana Biggerstaff, assistant director for employment and compensation, said proof of identity and employment eligibility is required upon hire to anyone applying for a job at OU.

OU currently has 211 non-student international employees at its Norman campus.

That number does not include Colin, who has moved from work in the fields of Texas to sharing his love for the literature of his homeland with OU students.

The hard work and mountain of student loans from his time in New Mexico are all worth it, Colin said, because he has reached a place at OU where he can give back what has been given to him.

"I am living proof that we can bring different points of view from different cultures in the world," Colin said. "I'll pay back every single penny of it. It's fine with me because I have my life made."
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