Oklahoma has just joined Texas and Iowa as states facing lawsuits from the federal Justice Department for passing laws to stop illegal immigration. The Oklahoma legislation, HB 4156, allows local law enforcement to arrest illegal aliens and requires them to leave the state. These provisions are similar to those of Texas and Iowa.
In a letter to Oklahoma’s governor and attorney general, Principal Deputy Assistant AG Brian Boynton stated that “HB 4156 is preempted by federal law and violates the United States Constitution.” He said a lawsuit will follow if Oklahoma tries to enforce the law. In response, the state’s Attorney General Gentner Drummond said the legislation would go into effect and Oklahoma would “vigorously defend” it in court.
Drummond added that “Your misguided demands ignore that Oklahoma has not only the sovereign right, but also the solemn legal obligation, to protect its own borders and its own citizens. . . . HB 4156 represents a meaningful, common-sense, and legally permissible step toward addressing and correcting that which the Biden Administration has willfully refused to enforce the last 3.5 years.”
The federal government maintains that it has sole authority to conduct immigration law enforcement and that the state’s have no right to preempt that activity. Critics ask how it is possible to preempt federal enforcement when, as Drummond pointed out, it has largely ceased to exist.
Read more at msn.com