Oklahoma has become the latest state to advance a bill seeking the removal of undocumented immigrants in its territory.
HB4156, as the bill is known, was passed by the Senate this week and sent to the desk of Republican governor Kevin Stitt.
If signed, the law would allow local and state law enforcement to remove undocumented immigrants from the state.
Advocates justified their support saying that the increased amount of migrants entering the United States has started impacting the state.
"What we're trying to say is the people who are coming here illegally are causing issues. We can't take care of them. We don't have the funding. We don't have the resources. We can't even take care of the people here in the state that are born here in the state and born here in this country," state Sen. Jessica Garvin, a Republican from Duncan, told Koco News 5.
Democrats, in contrast, have said that the bill targets a community that plays an integral role in the state. "Yes, you are going to have people that are stopped because of the way they look, and we're going to try to put those folk in the jail, and why? Because of the way they look," said state Sen. George Young, a Democrat from Oklahoma City.
Several states have sought to implement similar measures over the past weeks, including Louisiana, Iowa, Arizona and Tennessee. All of them have Republican majorities in their state legislatures and are modeled after Texas' SB4, a law authorizing the arrest and deportation of migrants who are in the country unlawfully. That law is currently on hold after three judges blocked it while they consider whether it is constitutional.
If SB4 reaches the Supreme Court, like Abbott suggested, the justices will get a chance to revisit a historic ruling that largely struck down Arizona's "show me your papers" law and reaffirmed the federal government's "broad, undoubted power" over immigration.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
