Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stit issued an executive order Wednesday mandating immigration enforcement checks of federal welfare applicants. The move comes amid legislative Republican infighting, as lawmakers eye the end of session.
Senate Pro Tem Lonnie Paxton, R-Tuttle, unofficially ended the legislative session for his chamber early, saying senators' work is largely done.
Still left incomplete: a pair of bills by House Speaker Kyle Hilbert, R-Bristow, requiring state agencies to check for the immigration status of federal welfare applicants and report those in the country without permission to immigration authorities.
That left Hilbert frustrated and confused, because just the day before both chambers agreed to end next week.
"I don't fully understand the decision," Hilbert said during a press gaggle in the state capitol rotunda. "I mean, if you're going to work an additional couple of days, then work those days this week, not next week, that would make more sense to me."
The ultimate fate of the bills may not matter. Stitt's executive order directs "the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) and the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) to utilize the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to verify the legal status of applicants for programs including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Medicaid."
Those are the exact actions laid out in Hilbert's SECURE Act. And the Speaker appreciates Stitt taking them.
"I am thankful that Governor Stitt takes the issue of illegal immigration seriously and recognizes the importance of enforcing the rule of law at every level of government," Hilbert said in a written statement. "Oklahoma taxpayers should never be forced to subsidize benefits for individuals who are in our country illegally. These services are intended for legal tax-paying citizens, and we are going to make sure that is who is receiving these benefits in Oklahoma."
Still, Stitt wants lawmakers to take action.
"The surest way to protect Oklahoma taxpayers is to pass legislation and get it signed into law," Stitt said in a written statement.
Far-right GOP lawmakers in the Freedom Caucus are also trying to revive Hilbert's bills. They gathered to criticize Paxton's leadership throughout the session, noting their efforts to get Hilbert's measures, among others, heard on the Senate floor without his support.
Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin and Vice-Chair of the Freedom Caucus in the Senate, called Paxton's move to end their chamber's work early and avoid Hilbert's bills part of a strategy to kill truly Republican initiatives. He and other caucus members tried to force the bills through to the floor last week, to no avail.
"We've seen Speaker Hilbert run good policy," Deevers said. "We try to bring it to the floor because it's being quashed by leadership, and they won't take action on it."
He said avoiding the measures is just one of Senate Republican leadership's way to protect loyal members of the caucus in an election year.
"People were told to vote a certain way to give cover to people who are who are running in campaigns this year," Deevers said. "It's about coverage for the people that they told to vote a certain way. And how do I know that? Because they told me."
Deevers stopped short of sharing what lawmakers told him they were asked to vote against their interests to protect their election chances.
