(The Center Square) – The Oklahoma legislature agreed in February to allow state and local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration services.
The legislature signed three agreements with federal immigration authorities to give state law enforcement greater control to enforce federal immigration laws. The agreements also allow the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Narcotics, and Department of Public Safety to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Law enforcement can’t do their jobs with one hand tied behind their back. By working directly with ICE, our law enforcement officers now have additional tools to keep dangerous criminals off our streets and protect Oklahomans,” said Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt.
Under the agreement, trained officers in each state agency can interrogate individuals over their immigration status, arrest individuals without a warrant if they are suspected of violating immigration laws and assist in transporting detainees to ICE facilities in the state.
The agreement is a stark contrast to a proposal from just last year aimed at increasing legal pathways throughout the state.
In 2024, Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signed an executive order to establish the Oklahoma State Work Permits and Visa Task Force, a group designed to research legal pathways for immigrants to live and work in the state.
Stitt called on increased state and local governmental control over the legal pathways process.
“Governors should have more authority over the H1-B visa process so we can better address the workforce needs of our economies,” Stitt said. “This task force will be a step in that direction.”
The task force submitted a report with policy recommendations to support legal immigration pathways throughout the state.
The task force recommended the state government create the Office of New Oklahomans to promote legal pathway coordination between the state and federal governments. The report also recommended promoting visa categories between the state and international locations to fill positions for teachers or science workers.
Additionally, the report recommended utilizing state-funded organizations’ cap exemptions to recruit more H-1B workers and allow noncitizens to get drivers licenses.
“Oklahoma can lead the way in empowering employers as well as internationally trained talent with tools and resources to help navigate visa types, legal requirements, costs and the credentialing process,” the report reads.
However, state lawmakers in Oklahoma did not respond favorably to the report. State Rep. Justin Humphrey, R-Lane, expressed concern over the report’s recommendations.
Humphrey said he took issue with the government increasing its control over immigration practices as well as using taxpayer funds to promote legal pathways.
“The task force recommended a new office but failed to report how they intend to fund this new agency to sponsor illegals,” Humphrey said. “If we are going to create a new office, what if we create an office to identify illegal use of state resources?”
“Helping people who have proven to be good neighbors and hard workers is a very different conversation than giving illegals a driver’s license, helping them attend college, giving them jobs, and promoting illegals to come to our state,” Humphrey said.
The state has yet to implement the Office of New Oklahomans or increase legal pathway opportunities for immigrants.
The task force’s work mirrors a 2012 effort in the Oklahoma legislature to introduce the state-based guest worker program. The ultimately did not pass because it would have needed federal cooperation.
While the attempts in 2024 and 2012 to promote legal pathways in Oklahoma did not succeed, agreements between state law enforcement and ICE have continued. ICE released a report of an September operation with Oklahoma Highway Patrol where authorities arrested 120 undocumented immigrants.
Ninety-one individuals arrested were operating commercial motor vehicles with a commercial driver’s license.
“Our roads are now safer with these illegal aliens no longer behind the wheel,” said Madison Sheehan, Deputy Director of ICE.
The political viability of increasing legal immigration pathway options is unlikely in Oklahoma’s future as it partners with the Trump administration to enact its deportation agenda.