During an appearance on Fox News on Friday, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) said he would assist President-elect Trump in deporting immigrants from his state who unlawfully entered the nation.
Stitt has already appointed the state’s commissioner of public safety to lead these operations, which will begin in prisons, as state data suggest that more than 500 detainees are illegal immigrants, according to the governor’s office.
“We want to be ready Day 1 in office — when President Trump takes office. I put our commissioner of public safety in charge and I said, ‘Listen, everybody that’s in our prisons that are here illegally, that are breaking our laws, we believe in public safety,’” he said on air.
“We want to protect the citizens of Oklahoma and we want to be ready to get them out of our state and out of our country before you see another one of the issues that affected Georgia with the Laken Riley case.”
He blamed President Biden for a four-year border crisis and an increase in immigration.
“The first thing we’re going to focus on are the people that have committed crimes. I think that’s what President Trump’s going to do. And then once you secure the border, which Biden has failed to do for the last four years, and that’s why the American people overwhelmingly supported President Trump because they know he’s going to secure the border Day 1,” he added.
According to Stitt, immigrants should be able to enter the country legally.
“And then you can look at immigration policy and state-based work visas. Because if there’s people that are trying to do the right thing, chasing the American dream, I believe we should match employers with employees and turn from education visas if you’re getting an engineering degree from one of our universities to get them into the workforce,” he suggested.
“But we’re going to start with the illegal activity.”
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey (D) has opted not to utilize state police to help with mass deportations. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) stated she would assist Trump but “won’t tolerate terrorizing communities.”
Trump has stated that he will go to whatever length to oversee “the largest deportation in American history” on Day 1 of his administration.
“Day 1 in office with an executive order, all President Trump has to do is go back to his policies of remain in Mexico and just instruct our Border Patrol to do their job. It’s already a federal law that you cannot enter our country” from Mexico except at a legal port of entry, Stitt said.