STATE'S IMMIGRATION LAW ADDS TWIST TO WAR ON DRUGS

This month, House Bill 1804 went into effect, giving Oklahoma the
most stringent laws on illegal immigration in the country. The law
requires a check of citizenship status if a person is arrested on a
felony complaint.

The law may already have had some effect on the amount of crystal
methamphetamine in Tulsa County, as there has been a 10 percent to 15
percent decline in the amount seized by deputies in the months
leading up to November, said Tulsa County sheriff's Sgt. Bob Darby.

"It's getting harder to find," Darby said. "I anticipate House Bill
1804 may solve some of our drug problems."

Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and
Dangerous Drugs Control, said that while many drug cartel
"lieutenants" in the United States may own businesses and launder
drug money through those operations, many of them take measures to
stay well below the law-enforcement radar.

"There may be some that get picked up, but most are already keeping a
low profile," Woodward said. "I don't know if this law will
necessarily mean more (people involved in drug cartels) are arrested.
They're hard to infiltrate. They move around a lot and keep to themselves."

Woodward said it was too early to tell whether the law has had an
effect on the number of crystal meth seizures in the state.

"Historically, we've seen peaks and valleys for a number of different
reasons," he said. "I think it's a little premature to say what the
effects have been on the drug trade."