On Tuesday, the Biden administration filed a lawsuit against Oklahoma over a new law that allows local authorities to arrest illegal aliens.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed House Bill 4156 into law in April. The law would “create new state crimes to regulate noncitizens’ entry and reentry into and presence in, the United States, with charges ranging from a misdemeanor to a felony,” the Department of Justice noted:
In particular, HB 4156 requires noncitizens convicted of violating its provisions to leave the State, effectively granting Oklahoma the independent authority to exile noncitizens from the State and permitting a patchwork of state immigration schemes.
The law is slated to take effect July 1. Predictably, the Biden administration claims that the legislation, meant to protect the state’s constituents, is unconstitutional.
“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, said in a statement on Tuesday. “We have brought this action to ensure that Oklahoma adheres to the Constitution and the framework adopted by Congress for regulation of immigration.”
According to the New York Post, when Stitt signed the bill into law in April, he said, “I am disappointed this bill is necessary.”
“Since President Biden took office in 2021, more than 10 million people have poured over the southern border. Countless individuals from across the globe, including thousands of Chinese nationals as well as people affiliated with terror organizations, have illegally crossed the U.S.-Mexico border. Oklahomans are concerned by who could be lying in wait for an opportunity to bring harm to our country,” he added. “My sole aim is to protect all four million Oklahomans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or heritage.”
Other states have pushed similar measures. In March, Townhall reported how he Georgia state House passed a bill that would allow police to arrest those suspected of entering the United States illegally. This comes shortly after an illegal immigrant was arrested in connection with the murder of a college student named Laken Riley in the state.
Riley, 22, was murdered while out for a run in a wooded area of the campus of the University of Georgia on Feb. 22. Riley was discovered dead after it was reported that she never returned home from her run. The following day, police charged Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan national in the United States illegally, with her murder.
Before this, Townhall covered how Texas authorities began arresting illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in Eagle Pass. Predictably, the Biden administration filed a lawsuit over it.