Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond this week filed a response to the preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of Oklahoma’s immigration enforcement law. House Bill 4156 was passed during the 2024 Legislative Session making it a crime to be in Oklahoma without legal documentation to be in the United States.
A federal judge has allowed the lawsuit against HB 4156 to move forward despite Drummond’s protest that two of the plaintiffs remain anonymous because to reveal their identities would “expose them to federal authorities” for lawbreaking.
Drummond responded with the claim that federal lawbreakers cannot claim a legal standing to challenge a state law that mirrors federal immigration statutes. The AG claims that by remaining anonymous it would “plainly subvert federal criminal law in the name of upholding it.”
Drummond says he’ll fight for the state law to the bitter end.
“Oklahoma will not stand by while activist groups use our federal courts to shield lawbreakers from consequences,” said Drummond. “This lawsuit asks the court to protect people who admit they are violating federal law from facing any accountability under either federal or state authority. That turns justice on its head and makes a mockery of the rule of law.”
The temporary restraining order is set to expire on June 3, 2025. That’s when the federal judge will consider imposing a preliminary injunction while the case proceeds.
Oklahoma’s immigration law survived a previous legal challenge filed by the Biden Administration. It was recently withdrawn by the Trump Administration.
