Family Says They’re Traumatized After Federal Agents Raid Oklahoma City Home
An Oklahoma City family is angry and shocked after immigration agents mistakenly raided their home.
Oklahoma City TV news station KFOR talked a woman they identified only as “Marisa.”
She said federal agents came into her home and ransacked it, looking for people listed on a federal warrant that didn’t include anyone living there.
Marisa told the television station she and her children in the home are US citizens. But the agents showed little care, waking them up and forcing them outside before they could get dressed.
“We weren't criminals. Why were they treating us like criminals? We were here by ourselves that we didn't do anything,” Marisa said.
The report is garnering national headlines and highlights fears in Oklahoma’s immigrant community about immigration enforcement.
The family told the TV station that their possessions, including phones, laptops, and cash, were seized during the raid. It’s unclear when they’ll get them back.
Oklahoma Human Services Reduces Disability Services Waitlist
In past years, Oklahomans seeking state disability services have faced a more than decade-long wait time.
But Oklahoma Human Services says it has now reduced the waitlist from 13 years to one.
The Legislature appropriated $32.5 million to the agency in 2022 to end a waitlist of more than 5,000 applicants.
An additional $3 million appropriation from the Legislature for fiscal year 2025 is helping process applicants who sought services from May 2022 to 2024.
Developmental Disabilities Services Division Director Beth Scrutchins said the reduced wait time is “an incredible achievement.”
The goal, she said, is to become a no-wait state.
The division provides services like caregivers, transportation and job coaches for Medicaid-eligible Oklahomans with developmental or intellectual disabilities.
International Students At Oklahoma Universities Can Stay In U.S.
The Trump Administration has reversed course on terminating international students’ statuses in the U.S.
As a result, Oklahoma universities say their students’ statuses are restored.
Earlier this month, international students around Oklahoma saw their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, status terminated. Following SEVIS termination, a student’s visa is usually revoked.
But Oklahoma State University said all 13 students whose SEVIS status was previously terminated have seen their statuses changed back to active. That means they are legally allowed to remain in the U.S.
The University of Central Oklahoma also confirmed that all its impacted international students have had their statuses reversed.
The University of Oklahoma said it was unable to provide any information, citing student privacy.
Oklahoma City Count Finds 2.4% Increase In People Experiencing Homelessness
Oklahoma City’s Key to Home Partnership shared recent data on the city’s homeless population on Tuesday.
While there was an increase from 2024, experts are optimistic.
1,882 people were counted in this year’s Point in Time Count, which is an annual survey of homelessness required by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. That’s a 2.4% increase from 2024.
But Jamie Caves, Key to Home’s Homeless Strategy Implementation Manager, said it’s still a step in the right direction.
“While we never want to see an increase, a 2.4% increase is actually a pretty dramatic move in the right director. Last year we saw a 28% increase, so we've really been able to slow the growth this year and we see that as a win,” Caves said.
Caves said the loss of COVID-era funding led to a sharp increase in homelessness between 2023 and 2024.
Since then, she attributes the slowdown to the stabilization of funding sources which led to 300 people being put into permanent housing over the last 12 months.
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