Oklahoma DPS Commissioner to Discuss Operation Guardian With Trump Administration Thursday

The Oklahoma Commissioner of Public Safety says he plans to speak with the Trump administration Thursday about "Operation Guardian." (KOKH)

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — The Oklahoma Commissioner of Public Safety says he plans to speak with the Trump administration Thursday about “Operation Guardian.” It’s a program focused on deporting incarcerated illegal immigrants out of the state.

Commissioner Tim Tipton says he wants Oklahoma to be prepared to work with the Trump administration, immigration officials, ICE and Homeland Security.

“We’re a law-and-order state,” Commissioner Tipton said. “People who live here legally or illegally are expected to obey and follow the law.”

Tipton says Governor Kevin Stitt has four priorities on “Operation Guardian.” The first being deporting illegal immigrants who are currently in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (DOC).

“We have gathered those names and understanding of those individuals, what those crimes were that they committed, where they’re at in the sentencing part of that and how much of their sentencing have they done. Now the governor will go through and vet each one of those and determine: has justice been served, and have they served enough of their sentence?”

Tipton says he also wants to find undocumented immigrants who already finished their jail sentence in Oklahoma, and deport them.

“In the past, what would’ve happened is when that person was going to get released from custody, there would be an ICE detainer put on them and the federal government would come and pick them up once their sentence was served. In the last four years, that hasn’t been happening at the federal level. So, now we kind of have a backlog of people that we need to look at. Can we now go and find those people that have already committed those crimes, and remove them from the country as well?”

Tipton mentions he’s looking forward to working with the new administration and federal officials to put people into ice custody, and remove them from the country.

“How do we remove them from the country? How do we put them into ICE custody, so that then they can be removed from the country? Because they’re committing additional criminal conduct that’s hard to put even a dollar number on how much cities and counties in the state spends on those reoccurring crimes that get committed by people who are here illegally. So, we want to make sure to remove them from the country. It’s important that the federal government secure our borders, so they don’t get deported and then come right back in. I know that’s a primary objective of the incoming federal administration: to make sure the border in a secure position as quickly as possible.”

He says he’s also concerned about the 400,000 juveniles that have been released into the United States over the past four years.

“Right now, the federal government can’t tell us their condition, where they’re at or who they’re with. We would only imagine that some of those children could potentially be in Oklahoma. So we want to do our part to try and identify those, locate those children and check on their safety and well-being as well.”

Fox 25 asked Tipton if he has any message for people who think this program is anti-immigrant.

“We want to be a state where people can live out that American Dream. We are a country of immigrants. Having a partnership with the federal administration that can make those workforce and immigration rules and abide by those, that allows people to come here, live the American Dream and help us with our workforce needs in the state of Oklahoma. At the same time, not allowing illegal immigrants and especially those who come into Oklahoma and commit crimes. The message would be: part of this is political on the side of dreamers and things like that. That’s a political question. I don’t necessarily have an opinion on that. I look at it from a public safety standpoint. Where the governor and I will stand strong on is: if you’re in Oklahoma and you’re here illegally, and you commit a crime that puts the citizens in jeopardy, that puts Oklahomans in jeopardy, then you’ll be arrested and you’ll be deported. That is our priority: the public safety part of it.”

You can watch Fox 25’s full interview with Commissioner Tipton below.