A new Oklahoma immigration law, which is one of the strictest in the nation, could have far-reaching effects on Kansas.

About 14 percent of Oklahoma’s legal and illegal immigrants have been moving to neighboring states or Mexico as a result of the bill, said Linda Allegro, a political science professor at the University of Tulsa.

With the outflow of migrants, some are concerned Kansas will become a “sanctuary state,” said Brent Metz, Kansas University assistant professor of anthropology.

And that likely will mean the Kansas Legislature will take notice.

“There’s going to be some tough bills coming to Kansas,” he said.

Metz and Allegro were participants Friday at a KU Latin studies conference called “Nuestra America in the U.S.?”

Allegro said many state legislators are monitoring the Oklahoma bill for possible adoption.

The bill, enacted last November, mandates the need for documentation and authorizes criminal action against people who hire, transport or harbor illegal immigrants. And the bill prohibits illegal immigrants from obtaining a driver’s license and denies them public services.

“Though it’s a very broad, sweeping mandate, really we can say that virtually no sector of the society or the economy of Oklahoma has been untouched by this bill,” Allegro said.

The outflow has caused a 30 to 40 percent loss in state revenue. The homebuilders association is complaining about losing documented workers. There has been a rise in incidents of hate crimes. All of that is distracting from another underlying issue: worker’s rights, according to Allegro.

The conference, which continues at the Kansas Union today, was introduced this year to explore the growing Latino populations in the states.

Researchers from more than 80 universities were expected to attend the conference along with at least 30 KU graduate students and faculty members. Each presented research or moderated panel discussions.