Dispelling Rumors Over Immigration Law

The effort goes on to explain Oklahoma's new immigration law. Hispanic leaders say fear of the new law is driving some Hispanics to leave and causing some landlords to believe they should be checking citizenship. The News On 6's Emory Bryan reports that has others trying to dispel the rumors.

Reverend Victor Orta with the American Dream coalition said he's heard from immigrants who say their landlords are asking about citizenship, but he didn't have specifics. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce says their reading of the law indicates landlords can rent to immigrants without checking their status.

Leaders of the Hispanic chamber said on Friday one of the biggest problems with the law is the fear that has been created through parts of it which they say are confusing. Some of those aspects have been misunderstood.

In particular, they believe the law doesn't address people renting apartments to immigrants, unless they're purposely trying to hide immigrants.

"It doesn't say that you have to go screen all of your tenants for citizenship and then throw out of your property the ones who can't produce some document that says they're here lawfully," said attorney Russell Abbot.

Several Hispanic groups are joining together for a meeting Sunday afternoon to explain the new immigration law to anyone who wants to learn more. It's Sunday at 3 p.m., in the stadium at East Central High School.

Originally aired 11/2/2007 4:57 PM - Updated 11/2/2007 7:37 PM