Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond has appealed to the US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, challenging a federal injunction that blocks the enforcement of House Bill 4156, a controversial state immigration law.
The preliminary injunction, issued last month, prevents Oklahoma from implementing the provisions of HB 4156.
Attorney General Drummond stated that HB 4156 is crucial for combating criminal activity linked to illegal immigration in Oklahoma. However, critics argue that the bill promotes racial profiling.
House Bill 4156, passed on April 18, 2024, by a vote of 77-20 and signed into law by Governor Kevin Stitt on April 30, aimed to criminalize individuals who enter and remain in Oklahoma without legal authorization.
The bill granted state and local law enforcement the authority to inquire about a person’s immigration status and arrest those suspected of being in the country illegally.
It also mandated law enforcement to collect identifying information of those arrested under the bill, to be cross-referenced with criminal databases by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
The federal court temporarily blocked the bill on June 28, 2024, after a lawsuit by the federal government and another by an individual and an advocacy organization were consolidated. Judge Jones cited concerns about potential Fourth Amendment violations against unreasonable searches and seizures.
He also indicated that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claims that the law violates the US Constitution’s supremacy clause, which establishes federal law precedence over state law in immigration enforcement.
Similar state-level immigration laws in Texas and Iowa have also faced legal challenges, with Texas’s law signed into law in December 2023 and Iowa’s law passed in March 2024 being contested by the American Civil Liberties Union.
