The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing Oklahoma to block its new law allowing law enforcement officers to eject illegal aliens from the state.
The DOJ has already filed similar lawsuits against Texas and Iowa over their bills that exclude illegal migrants.
“Oklahoma is cleaning up the Biden Administration’s mess through entirely legal means in its own backyard,” Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said in response, adding:
Oklahoma is exercising its concurrent and complementary power as a sovereign state to address an ongoing public crisis within its borders through appropriate legislation … and will resolutely continue to do so by supplementing federal prohibitions with robust state penalties.
The DOJ issued a statement Tuesday announcing that a lawsuit, filed on behalf of the United States, the DOJ, the Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department, had been filed against Oklahoma’s House Bill 4156 (HB 4156).
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R), Drummond, and Tim Tipton, the Commissioner of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety were listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
The DOJ argued that the United States Constitution “assigns the federal government the authority to regulate immigration” and to manage the nation’s borders.
At the beginning of May, Stitt signed HB 4156 into law.
Under HB 4156, which goes into effect July 1, a crime called impermissible occupation would be created, applying to undocumented migrants who have entered the U.S. illegally and have remained in the country.
For a first offense, those found guilty would receive a misdemeanor, be subject to a fine of up to $500, serve up to a year in jail, or possibly both. Guilty persons would also have 72 hours to leave the state.
“Oklahoma cannot disregard the U.S. Constitution and settled Supreme Court precedent,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, who oversees the DOJ’s Civil Division said in the statement. “We have brought this action to ensure that Oklahoma adheres to the Constitution and the framework adopted by Congress for regulation of immigration.”
The DOJ had indicated in a letter on May 15 that HB 4156 was “preempted by federal law” and in violation of the U.S Constitution, comparing Texas’ Senate Bill 4.
Boynton wrote in his May 15 letter:
House Bill 4156 is preempted by federal law and violated the United States Constitution. Indeed, the Oklahoma law is similar to Texas’s Senate Bill 4, which has been preliminarily enjoined. The United States intends to file suit to enjoin the enforcement of HB 4156 unless Oklahoma agrees to refrain from enforcing the law. The United States is committed to the processing of noncitizens consistent with the Immigration and Nationality Act. HB 4156 is contrary to that goal.
While proponents of illegal aliens have argued they are hard workers who pay taxes and who fill gaps in industries struggling to find workers, the flood of foreign labor also leads to wage suppression and an increase in prices and rent.
A 2023 housing report by the Wall Street firm of Moody’s Analytics found that roughly 25 million American renters were spending more than 30 percent of their pre-taxed income on housing and rent. During 2021, rent prices rose by 8.7 percent and by 9 percent in 2022, under the Biden administration. In comparison, rent prices rose 3.6 percent each year during former President Donald Trump’s term.
Oklahoma’s immigration bill is similar to laws passed in Iowa and Texas. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) signed Senate Bill 2340 in April, allowing law enforcement officials to arrest undocumented migrants who have previously been deported, and return them to their home country.
Texas passed Senate Bill 4 in 2023; however, it was put on hold as several courts weighed in on the constitutionality of the matter.
