By Emma Murphy, Oklahoma Voice
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, in partnership with federal immigration forces, arrested 73 people during a second operation targeting drivers without legal immigration status.
The most recent operation was held over two days last week near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border on Interstate 40. Troopers spoke with about 500 people and arrested 73 for being in the country without legal status. Of those arrested, 34 of which were commercial truck drivers, said Oklahoma Commissioner of Public Safety Tim Tipton.
It marked the second sting under Operation Guardian that has resulted in a total of nearly 200 people being detained on immigration violations while traveling along I-40, he said.
The first operation was held in September in western Oklahoma. It resulted in law enforcement speaking with 520 people and making 120 arrests for alleged immigration violations.
Both operations involved traffic stops and inspections at Oklahoma’s ports of entry.
As part of the state’s partnership with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, all Highway Patrol troopers are credentialed under ICE. This allows state officers to carry out some federal immigration enforcement, including questioning immigration status and search and seizure, Tipton said.
The training is provided by ICE and there’s a potential for federal reimbursement for the state, Tipton said. He did not detail what Oklahoma’s federal reimbursement could amount to.
“Our normal trooper out there working his normal assignment, taking calls for service, working collisions, dealing with intoxicated drivers, all the variety of things that a trooper does on a daily basis,” he said. “This just gives them the ability that if in their normal course of duty, they run across somebody who is here illegally, then they have, one, the authority to question them about their immigration status, and then, two, to also take immigration enforcement based under federal under federal law.”
Highway Patrol is accompanied by ICE during these operations at Oklahoma’s ports of entry, Tipton said.
“We set up a command post at the port, we provide troopers, our emergency response troopers, that come out to process them,” he said. “It’s really a mass arrest event once you do that, when you have hundreds of people that you’re detaining.”
The troopers make the arrests, process and transport the arrested individuals to a local ICE office in partnership with the Department of Public Safety or the Department of Corrections, Tipton said. ICE then can process and transport the individuals “wherever within the federal system they need to go.”
Tipton said the “majority” of those arrested had a criminal history or “other factors that play into why they are a true threat.”
“It is dangerous to our citizens when we have people who are here, illegally, untrained, operating these types of vehicles,” he said. “And so it is a true public safety issue that we will aggressively enforce.”
During last week’s enforcement operation, Tipton said social media posts warned drivers as far as North and South Carolina to reroute around Oklahoma because of Operation Guardian.
“There are other states that have credentialed certain divisions within their state agencies, but with the intelligence that we see, as soon as you get an operation going, word is being spread amongst those who are driving illegally to route around,” Tipton said. “Until there’s a concerted effort across the country to be able to stop that rerouting and do it in a systematic approach.”
