Sen. James Lankford (R-OK ) blasted the Biden administration for sueing Oklahoma prior to the passage of a new law that would allow nonfederal police to detain illegal immigrants.
Attorney General Merrick Garland was sent a letter to Attorney General Lankford on Thursday that described the Trump Department of Justice as “hypocritical” for attempting to block the state’s immigration enforcement attempts. The lawmaker claimed state leaders back present passed the law because of federal silence to secure the borders three and a half years into the illegal immigration issue.
In the letter, which was first obtained by the Washington Examiner, Lankford wrote,” It is disingenuous for the Biden Administration to refuse to act to secure the southwestern border while trying to stop Oklahoma from doing its part to protect itself from this Administration’s open borders guidelines.”
On July 1, 2018, House Bill 4156 will go into effect, allowing local and state law enforcement to detain non-American individuals who are visiting the country illegally. The law essentially allows nonfederal authorities to enforce immigration laws, which have previously been federal statutes that only national authorities can enforce, following a similar one passed in Texas last season.
In the email, Lankford informed Garland that the country’s new law, which is scheduled to go into effect in less than two months, was in direct response to the lack of activity the federal government has taken at the borders.
” Oklahoma passed H. B. 4156 because of the Federal government’s lack of leadership on securing the border”, said Lankford. The Biden Administration continues to be uninterested in its efforts to address our opened southern border, according to your efforts to stop Oklahoma from passing this law.
More than 9.5 million workers have applied for entry into the country since February 2021, including more than 2, 600 alone babies who were released into older partners in Oklahoma, according to federal law enforcement at U.S. Customs and Border Protection since President Joe Biden took business.
Republicans have accused Biden of triggering the flow of unlawful immigrants by repealing the Trump administration’s strong border surveillance efforts, which replace any 40-month time under previous governments.
” This astronomical level of illegal immigration has strained state and local government services across the nation, creating problems for school systems, homelessness tents, and related service”, said Lankford.
The border crisis has had a direct impact on Lankford’s home state. Chinese migrants crossing the southern border from China to illegal marijuana-growing locations that run illegally by Chinese organizations in Oklahoma were discovered in a March investigation by ProPublica.
Ahead of the law’s implementation, the Justice Department lawsuit-against-state-oklahoma-regarding-unconstitutional-state#:~:text=In%20particular%2C%20HB%204156%20requires,patchwork%20of%20state%20immigration%20schemes.” title=””>sued Oklahoma in late May, followed days later by a federal lawsuit from immigration rights groups.
According to the DOJ lawsuit, the state law violated the Foreign Commerce and Supremacy Clause.
” Oklahoma cannot disregard the U. S. Constitution and settled Supreme Court precedent”, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, 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 who has been found guilty of a first offense or any other offenses must leave the state within three days of being released from custody, and they are not permitted to go back to Oklahoma.
Lankford’s outcry against the DOJ comes days after the New York Post reported that the Biden administration admitted eight illegal immigrants who later became ISIS affiliates into the country. A phone tap from a federal law enforcement revealed that they had planned 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”, said Lankford.  ,
A request for comment was not immediately addressed by the DOJ.
