House Bills 4422 and 4423, dubbed together as the SECURE Act, by House Speaker Kyle Hilbert and Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton aim to report welfare applicants in the country without legal immigration status.
The bill would require reporting such applicants for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) and other government programs to Oklahoma's Attorney General's Office, which could then pass the leads along to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, for possible detention and deportation.
Hilbert quoted President Donald Trump during his recent State of the Union speech to defend his measures on the House floor.
"President Trump said, 'The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens,'" Hilbert said, reiterating that his measures are meant to ensure tax dollars are being spent on U.S. Citizens.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond — whose office would be charged with figuring out what to do with names obtained — praised the measure.
But Democrats said Hilbert and other Republican supporters' arguments for the bills are empty, pointing out that unauthorized migrants pay millions in state taxes while already being excluded from those benefits.
Rep. Arturo Alonso-Sandoval said the measures hurt Oklahomans — and Americans — more than help them, and that the excuse of cracking down on criminals no longer holds.
"For those that might not know, any person that is undocumented does pay taxes using an individual tax ID number within the state of Oklahoma," Alonso-Sandoval said. "And… targeting the criminals, targeting the drug traffickers, targeting those that are doing bad, that aren't US citizens. That isn't an argument. Today, we're not talking about the criminals. We're not talking about the drug traffickers…We're talking about kids that are hungry and sick, families that come from low-income backgrounds."
Unauthorized migrants in Oklahoma paid $227 million in state and local taxes in 2022, according to The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Hilbert said that while his measure ensures children who are citizens remain eligible, he warned unauthorized migrant parents to apply for the benefits at their own risk.
"If you're here and you're not an American citizen and you're still going to apply to be the recipient of taxpayer-funded welfare, then that's a risk that you take," Hilbert said.
Both measures passed along party lines and are now up for consideration in Senate Committees.
Senate Pro Tem Paxton is his chamber's sponsor of the measures. He said he's sold on the idea of protecting Oklahoma tax dollars and ensuring they go to Americans. Oklahoma, he said, simply can't afford it.
"The goal is to make sure that people who are not eligible to receive them are not somehow slipping through the cracks," Paxton said. "So it's making sure that DHS has that opportunity to say state law says you cannot get these benefits if you're not a citizen of the United States and a citizen of Oklahoma. We can't afford to do that."
But when pressed by reporters, he said, possibly cutting off food and health care assistance from American children because they have foreign parents doesn't seem right either, and it remains a looming factor for the Senate to review.
"When I pay my taxes, I am very fortunate that I don't need to be on SNAP," Paxton said. "I do know some of my neighbors that do need that program. I want to make sure the money is available for them… So I will follow up on that some more."
Meanwhile, Drummond said in a press release hours after the floor votes that he supports Hilbert's measures because taxpayers have a right to expect responsible stewardship of their money. "The SECURE Act is about accountability," Drummond said. "It ensures benefits are directed only to eligible Oklahomans while still protecting the integrity of programs designed to help those in genuine need."
Nothing in the bills requires the relevant state agencies or the attorney general to record the number of people reported to immigration authorities, why they were reported or whether those reported have American children.
