Biden Administration Considers Legal Action Against Oklahoma for Illegal Immigration Law

The Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) is threatening to sue the state of Oklahoma over a new law that would criminalize illegal immigration at the state level.

The threat from the DOJ comes after Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law that allows law enforcement agents to arrest suspected illegal immigrants who may be guilty of committing “impermissible occupation” in Oklahoma.

First and second time convictions carry different penalties, though both would require the illegal immigrant to leave the state of Oklahoma within 72 hours of being released from custody. The Biden DOJ now claims that the law is unconstitutional.

“The United States intends to file suit to enjoin the enforcement of HB 4156 unless Oklahoma agrees to refrain from enforcing the law,” a letter from DOJ Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney Brian Boynton to the Governor of Oklahoma reads. “The United States is committed to the processing of noncitizens consistent with the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). HB 4156 is contrary to that goal.”

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond fired back in a statement of his own, asserting that “Oklahoma has a sovereign right to defend its people, and we have a legal obligation to defend our people, to protect our citizens,” going on to argue that “the Biden administration has abdicated control of the border.”

Oklahoma is just one of the several states that has recently passed legislation intended to respond to the unprecedented crisis on the southern border that the Biden administration has presided over.

The DOJ recently sent a similar threat to Iowa, which passed a law designating illegal reentry into the state as an aggravated misdemeanor, thereby allowing the state to arrest illegal immigrants. “Those who come into our country illegally have broken the law, yet Biden refuses to deport them,” Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said while defending the legislation.

Texas has also been locked in legal battles with the federal government over legislation that allows state officials to detain and charge illegal immigrants. The Lone Star state also met the federal government’s ire when state authorities took control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, Texas on the banks of the Rio Grande, asserting that the federal government was allowing illegal immigrants to enter the country by way of the park.

Georgia has also passed legislation requiring jails to check the citizenship status of inmates, a reform largely inspired by the brutal killing of 22-year old Laken Riley by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.

While the Biden administration continues to threaten lawsuits against states that attempt to curtail illegal immigration, the Democrat president has presided over an unprecedented illegal immigration crisis, with authorities recording over 9.5 million nationwide encounters and 1.7 million estimated illegal immigrant gotaways since Joe Biden took office. There were only 445,000 total reported gotaways for 2018, 2019, and 2020 under the Trump administration.

The Democratic incumbent is now under water with voters on the critical election year issue, with one poll finding that just 20 percent of voters across the country believe that the United States has control over its borders, while a separate survey revealed that only 36 percent of voters approve of Biden’s handling of the issue.

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