OKPOLICY.ORG
Oklahoma has never been the most welcoming state for immigrants. In recent years, however, heightened racist and nativist sentiment in the U.S. — along with President Trump’s push for mass deportations — has ratcheted up the amount of anti-immigrant efforts around Oklahoma. In this 2025 legislative session, over 20 anti-immigrant measures were introduced in the Oklahoma legislature. They ranged from barring any immigrant from owning or renting property in Oklahoma (SB 982) to tracking the immigration status of children enrolled in public school HB 1165 and HB 1671). These bills would hurt all Oklahomans, not just immigrants — however, thanks to the hard work of advocates, sensible legislators, and engaged Oklahomans, most of these bills failed.
Most anti-immigrant bills did not make it to the governor’s desk
In the Oklahoma legislature, defeating a bill very rarely involves lawmakers voting it down. More often, it happens behind the scenes through advocacy and conversations to make sure the bill does not get heard on the floor or in committee. This is what happened with HB 1362 and SB 868.
HB 1362 was a bill that would have skipped due process considerations and automatically charged undocumented Oklahomans with a felony due to their immigration status. Thanks to the advocacy of trusted partners, moderate legislators, and informed constituents, the Senate committee did not hear the bill. Similarly, SB 868, never made it to the Senate floor. It would have banned “sanctuary cities” and stripped municipalities of local control to decide for themselves whether to protect immigrant residents from Trump’s mass deportation machine.
The only anti-immigrant bill that passed both chambers this year was SB 20, which requires non-domiciled commercial driver license holders to provide proof of citizenship and have a valid work visa. It also requires drivers to demonstrate proficiency in English. In practice, the bill makes little change to current commercial driver license policy, but its anti-immigrant message remains clear.
A final legislative development worth mentioning is that Oklahoma legislators blocked Ryan Walters’ attempt to require proof of citizenship for public school enrollment. After it was introduced in the beginning of the year, advocates spoke out against the rule, which could have dissuaded immigrant families from enrolling their kids in school out of fear their immigration status would be weaponized for immigration enforcement purposes. In an encouraging moment of bipartisanship, legislators recognized the harms the administrative rule would cause and rejected it.
This year’s anti-immigrant bills are dormant, but only for now
Although these bills are dead this session, the author of any bill that did not receive a “Do Not Pass” motion can “revive” their bill next year and pick up where they left off. For instance, HB 1362 could be heard in the Senate committee next legislative session. Additionally, legislators could introduce a new set of anti-immigrant bills that would be damaging to every Oklahoman. Immigration is politicized now more than ever — with legislators tempted to score easy political points by pushing their own anti-immigrant bills. It is important for us to continue to be engaged and make it clear that anti-immigrant laws will harm all Oklahomans.
Instead of targeting hard-working community members, lawmakers should focus on passing inclusive policies that are proven to help all residents. This means passing bills like driver’s license expansion, easing language barriers, and strengthening our workforce by ensuring immigrants with work authorization can access occupational licensing. These are policies well within Oklahoma’s power to enact, and doing so would promote economic security for every Oklahoman.
Oklahoma should not mirror federal dysfunction
Although Oklahoma legislators have the power to pass policies to strengthen our economy and support all residents, too often they choose to appease federal officials by toeing a strict anti-immigrant line. For instance, Oklahoma leaders have been eager to collaborate with the current administration on ramping up punitive immigration enforcement. Governor Stitt created Operation Guardian to deputize large swaths of the state’s law enforcement to work with federal immigration enforcement agents. Similarly, Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who spearheaded efforts to pass HB 4156, is pushing to enforce the harmful law after the federal Department of Justice dropped their lawsuit against it. A court decision issued May 20, 2025 paused the law from going into effect for 14 days.
Anti-immigrant policies will harm all Oklahomans. For evidence, we can simply look around the country to see the impact of punitive immigration policies. Heightened immigration enforcement has resulted in families being separated for the smallest traffic infractions, U.S. citizens being racially profiled and arrested, and deaths at immigration detention facilities. We’ve even seen U.S. citizen children with life-threatening conditions deported alongside their parents. Following this path will cause great harm to Oklahomans — particularly Oklahoma’s 81,600 citizens who live with at least one undocumented family member.
Our policies should empower Oklahomans, not criminalize them
When we attack immigrants, we are attacking hard-working Oklahomans who make our state a better place. We also hurt our own economy by transforming the state into a place where people would hesitate to lay down roots and raise their families. The anti-immigrant sentiment sweeping the nation makes it tempting to adopt a harsh stance against immigrants. Still, Oklahoma leaders should focus instead on preventing misguided anti-immigrant policies from causing irreparable harm to Oklahoma families.
Immigrants living in Oklahoma are part of our families, communities, workplaces, and places of worship. When we create policy, we must ensure that we do so in the interest of all Oklahomans.
