Adding to a spate of challenges to state immigration laws by the U.S. Justice Department, federal prosecutors have now sued the state of Oklahoma and its governor Kevin Stitt in a bid to block a law there that makes it a crime punishable by up to two years in prison to live in Oklahoma without legal immigration status.
The head of the Justice Department’s civil division, principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton said Tuesday that the Oklahoma law is unconstitutional on its face and disregards “settled Supreme Court precedent” that defines the power of the U.S. government when it comes to immigration and the status of noncitizens.
According to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, the legislation known as HB 4156 “intrudes on that scheme, frustrates the United States’ immigration operations, and interferes with U.S. foreign relations.”
But for Stitt, HB 4156 is necessary to stem the flow of illegal immigration — something President Joe Biden, he claims, has failed to do.
“Not only that, but they stand in the way of states trying to protect their citizens,” Stitt said of the federal government, according to a statement obtained by The Associated Press.
Both Stitt and Oklahoma’s Attorney General Gentner Drummond are named in the complaint and in a letter to the department prior to the state being sued — prosecutors warned Oklahoma its complaint was coming last week — though Drummond acknowledged the federal government’s power over immigration, he did not accept it as an “exclusive” authority and called the Biden administration’s assertion that it amply adheres to immigration processing laws “disingenuous.”
According to a study by the nonprofit American Immigration Council, in Oklahoma, about 5.5% of the state’s residents are foreign-born and 3.8% of the state’s residents live with at least one immigrant parent. Immigrants also make up about 7.9% of Oklahoma’s entire labor force, accounting for 10.8% of entrepreneurs, 9.8% are STEM workers and 28.1% make up all construction laborers in the state.
Several states have been sued by the Justice Department of late for similarly-crafted legislation seeking to penalize immigrants. The department sued Texas in March after a law was passed there that allowed the Lone Star State to arrest and deport people who entered the country illegally. That matter is currently on hold while the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considers it.
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Texas law to take effect briefly in March before the Fifth Circuit temporarily stopped its enforcement, as Law&Crime previously reported.
The DOJ has also sued Iowa after that state approved a law that permitted criminal charges to be filed against people with outstanding deportation orders, were previously denied entry to the U.S. or were removed before. Prison time is also a penalty in this law.
The Associated Press reported that after Iowa’s laws were passed, fear swept through the community that incidences of racial and ethnic profiling would skyrocket and make immigrants who wish to report crimes to the police less willing to do so.
The post DOJ sues another state to stop prison sentences for immigrants living in US illegally first appeared on Law & Crime.
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Author: Brandi Buchman
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