Oklahoma is moving to become the first state to turn over illegal immigrants in state prisons to federal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in an effort to jump-start President-elect Donald Trump‘s mass deportation effort and save state taxpayer money.
Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK) on Wednesday announced a plan to expeditiously deport more than 500 convicted illegal immigrants in its prisons by transferring them over to ICE, where deportation proceedings before a judge can take place.
FULL LIST OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS, ACTIONS, AND PROCLAMATIONS TRUMP HAS MADE AS PRESIDENT
“We want to be the first state that works with President Trump,” Stitt had said in a phone call previewing the initiative in November 2023. “Right now, we have over 500 people incarcerated in Oklahoma who have broken the law, who are criminals, and they also are illegal,” Stitt said. “We would love to get them out of the state of Oklahoma, out of the country.”
Now, that effort is coming to fruition. Stitt launched Operation Guardian, an initiative by the Oklahoma Commissioner of Public Safety to transfer illegal immigrants to federal custody. Local and state law enforcement cannot decide whether to deport an illegal immigrant because immigration laws are enforced by only federal authorities.
Exactly 525 criminal illegal immigrants are in Oklahoma prisons as of the first week of February. The state pays $36,000 to house them each day, according to the governor’s office.
Stitt wants to turn them over to ICE before their sentences are up.
“Former president Biden’s weak border policies allowed our country to become a safe haven for criminal illegal migrants – that ends in Oklahoma with Operation Guardian,” Stitt said in a statement Wednesday. “I’m grateful we have a President in the White House who is taking action where the former refused to. These dangerous illegal aliens should not be walking on our streets, and they soon won’t be. Oklahoma will continue to stand for law & order.”
However, the pilot program could upset crime victims who feel their perpetrators are not paying the price for their crimes with an early release.
Oklahoma’s efforts coincide with Trump’s deportation operation, which is already underway nationwide. Trump has promised to carry out the largest removal operation and said he would start with criminals and the more than 1.4 million people who have been ordered deported but are still in the United States. Trump tapped former ICE leader Tom Homan as his administration’s “border czar” to kickstart the effort.
Prisoners would be deported to their countries of origin. According to statistics shared Wednesday, nearly three-in-four convicted immigrants in Oklahoma prisons are from Mexico. followed by 8% from Guatemala, 7% from Honduras, 1% from Vietnam, and 12% from other countries.
“This plan ensures Oklahoma leads the nation in cracking down on illegal aliens who’ve committed crimes against our communities,” said OK Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton. “Operation Guardian is a direct response to the threat that these criminals pose to our citizens.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The effort could reduce the amount of money needed to house illegal immigrants in prison by more than $1 million per month if all 525 inmates were handed over to ICE.
If successful, this state effort could be duplicated in other states.