Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond submitted an appeal to the US Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday. The appeal challenges a court order against a preliminary injunction that halts the controversial anti-illegal immigration House Bill 4156 in the state.
The preliminary injunction, which was issued last month, prevented Oklahoma from enforcing the bill. The appeal now seeks to overturn the injunction and allow the state to implement the provisions of HB 4156 as originally intended.
Attorney General Drummond, in the official statement, said that House Bill 4156 is a powerful tool to counter criminal activity largely being fueled by illegal immigrants coming to Oklahoma. However, critics of the Bill argue that it promotes racial profiling.
House Bill 4156 had first been passed on April 18, 2024 by a vote of 77-20 and was set to take effect on July 1, 2024 after having been signed into law by Governor Kevin Stitt on April 30. The bill proposed the criminalization of individuals wilfully entering and remaining in Oklahoma without legal authorization to be in the United States. The bill also granted state and local law enforcement officials the authority to inquire about a person’s immigration status and allowed for the arrest of persons suspected of being in the country illegally.
House Bill 4156 also contains provisions mandating law enforcement to collect identifying information of those arrested under the bill. The bill also requires it to be cross-referenced with criminal databases by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
On June 28, 2024, the Federal Court temporarily blocked the bill, after a lawsuit by the federal government and a second lawsuit by an individual and an advocacy organization had been consolidated. In the ruling, Judge Jones expressed concerns about potential violations of the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and had also found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their claims that the law violates the US Constitution’s supremacy clause, which established that federal law takes precedence over state law in matters of immigration enforcement.
The Oklahoma bill imitated a similar immigration bill from the Texas Legislature, which was signed into law in December 2023 and has since faced legal challenges. Iowa also passed in March a similar law which was later challenged by civil rights group American Civil Liberties Union.
