EXCLUSIVE — Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) blasted the Biden administration for suing Oklahoma ahead of the implementation of a new law that would allow nonfederal police to arrest illegal immigrants.
Lankford sent Attorney General Merrick Garland a letter Thursday that labeled the Department of Justice as “hypocritical” for attempting to halt the state’s immigration enforcement efforts — a law the senator said state leaders passed because of federal inaction to secure the border 3 1/2 years into the illegal immigration crisis.
“It is hypocritical for the Biden Administration to refuse to act to secure the southern border while trying to block Oklahoma from doing its part to protect itself from this Administration’s open border policies,” Lankford wrote in the letter, obtained first by the Washington Examiner.
House Bill 4156 is set to take effect on July 1 and would allow state and local law enforcement to arrest non-U.S. citizens who are in the country illegally. The law follows a similar one passed last year in Texas and effectively allows nonfederal police to enforce immigration laws, which previously had been federal statutes only federal authorities could carry out.
Lankford told Garland in the letter that the state’s new law, slated to take effect in a little over two weeks, was a direct response to the federal government’s lack of action at the border.
“Oklahoma passed H.B. 4156 because of the Federal government’s lack of leadership on securing the border,” Lankford said. “Your efforts to block Oklahoma’s implementation of this law shows that the Biden Administration continues to be unserious in its efforts to address our open southern border.”
Since February 2021, days after President Joe Biden took office, federal law enforcement officers at U.S. Customs and Border Protection have encountered more than 9.5 million migrants seeking admission into the country, including more than 2,600 unaccompanied children who were released to adult sponsors in Oklahoma.
The figure supersedes any 40-month period under previous administrations, and Republicans have accused Biden of triggering the influx of illegal immigrants by rescinding the Trump administration’s robust border security initiatives.
“This astronomical level of illegal immigration has strained state and local government services across the nation, creating issues for school systems, homelessness shelters, and related services,” Lankford said.
The border crisis has had a direct impact on Lankford’s home state. A March investigation by ProPublica revealed that Chinese migrants coming over the southern border have headed to illegal marijuana grow sites where criminal Chinese organizations operate in Oklahoma.
Ahead of the law’s implementation, the Justice Department sued Oklahoma in late May, followed days later by a federal lawsuit from immigration rights groups.
The DOJ lawsuit stated that the state law violated the Supremacy Clause and Foreign Commerce Clause.
“Oklahoma cannot disregard the U.S. Constitution and settled Supreme Court precedent,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a news release.
If allowed to take effect, a first offense under the new law would be a misdemeanor punishable by jail time up to a year, a $500 fine, or both. A second offense is a felony and could lead to state prison time of up to two years, a $1,000 fine, or both.
Any illegal immigrant convicted a first time or anytime thereafter is required to leave the state within three days of being released from custody and may not return to Oklahoma.
Lankford’s frustration with the DOJ comes days after the New York Post reported that eight illegal immigrants were admitted into the United States who were later determined to be ISIS affiliates. A federal law enforcement phone tap revealed that they had plotted how to make bombs.
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“Rather than addressing the real national security concerns [that] created our open southern border, DOJ is instead focused on handcuffing Oklahoma’s ability to address the border crisis,” Lankford said.
The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.
