Oklahoma Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton said the state highway patrol and federal immigration authorities conducted another "mass arrest" operation along I-40 this week, this time on the eastern side of the state, along the border with Arkansas.
Tipton said the operation was focused on Commercial Motor Vehicle — big rig — law enforcement, which has been boosted by Operation Guardian, the state's initiative to cooperate closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
It was similar to one in September, which yielded more than 100 arrested unauthorized migrants, many of whom were truck drivers.
"In 15 hours, we contacted just over 500 vehicles," Tipton said while speaking at a conference of the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program (MCSAP) commanders in Oklahoma City. "We ended up arresting 73 illegal aliens during that 15 hours; 34 of those were driving commercial motor vehicles."
He said the Oklahoma State Highway Patrol and ICE positioned themselves along Oklahoma's entry routes and near weigh stations, which allowed them to inspect and interrogate drivers about their English proficiency and immigration status.
Tipton encouraged law enforcement leaders from around the country — in town for the conference on Commercial Motor Vehicle safety — to mimic Oklahoma's coupling with ICE to increase their enforcement capacities, not just of illegal driving and transport, but of immigration under President Trump's mass deportation agenda.
"Our partnership with ICE has been very productive," he said. "And I would encourage you all…to look at what you can do in your states when it comes to being able to enforce these types of activity."
After his speech, Tipton introduced Oklahoma Highway Patrol Chief Joe Williams, who took a moment to thank troopers working long hours during the operation and hinted at his attitude toward the intentional conflation of commercial vehicle and immigration law enforcement.
"It's so important not only what you do day-to-day in Troop 'S', you know, keeping our roads safe with commercial motor vehicle enforcement," Williams said. "But with this new era of us being 287 certified — every one of us is going out and working with our federal partner to make sure that we're removing people that aren't supposed to be here that have illegal backgrounds and criminal activity — I know that's an added task."
