OKPOLICY.ORG
This legislative session, lawmakers filed more than 30 immigration-related bills on subjects ranging from property rights to education to public benefits. The vast majority of these bills would further marginalize and penalize Oklahoma immigrants, while also creating negative spillover effects for U.S. citizens. Oklahoma lawmakers should stop targeting a segment of our neighbors for political gain and instead focus on what actually strengthens our state: ensuring every Oklahoman has the opportunity to succeed.
Two bills by the House Speaker will directly harm children
Some of the most concerning bills this session are House Bill 4422 and HB 4423 by House Speaker Kyle Hilbert. Known together as the Safeguarding Eligibility, Compliance and Use of Resources Efficiently (SECURE) Act , these bills mandate the Department of Human Services and the Oklahoma Health Care Authority use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system to check the immigration status of Oklahomans applying for SNAP, which helps families afford groceries; TANF, which provides temporary cash assistance to families with children; and SoonerCare, which provides low-cost health coverage. Further, any Oklahoman whose status cannot be verified could be reported to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office. According to the Speaker, this is to ensure these programs go only to those who are “ lawfully present in the United States .”
However, undocumented immigrants have never been eligible for public benefits. Additionally, the category of lawfully residing immigrants eligible to receive benefits has been narrowed as recently as last year , meaning these pieces of legislation are completely unnecessary — and will harm Oklahoma families. The SAVE federal database has a history of errors and misidentification that has even resulted in U.S. citizens being labeled as “ potential noncitizens .” If eligible Oklahomans know that the program they are applying for uses SAVE and could result in them being erroneously reported to ICE, then it will create a chilling effect that will discourage them from applying for benefits.
In particular, HB 4422 and HB 4423 will negatively impact U.S. citizen children with immigrant parents, even though citizen children are fully eligible for public benefits as long as they meet the other qualifying criteria . Research suggests that anti-immigrant policies decrease mixed-status families’ participation in programs like public safety net programs, even when those programs go only to citizen household members. For instance, during the last Trump administration, where anti-immigrant rhetoric and a public charge rule fueled fear around using public benefit programs, there was an almost 36 percent drop in SNAP participation for households with U.S. children who lived with a non-citizen. It also dissuaded parents from seeking preventative healthcare for their children. Mandating that Oklahoma agencies run applicants through a federal database unfit to verify citizenship or immigration status will create unnecessary costs , bureaucratic red tape, and an undue burden on families seeking the benefits they are lawfully entitled to.
Legislators are pushing to restrict which students qualify for in-state tuition
Last year, the Oklahoma Attorney General sided with a federal judge to strike down a law that had been on Oklahoma’s books for almost 20 years , even as the decision remains under appeal in the courts . Previously, all Oklahoma residents, including undocumented students, qualified for in-state tuition, but the lawsuit ended this policy. The change impacted about 400 students enrolled at the time of the decision , and it could potentially affect thousands of future students looking to attend college after high school. Even if Oklahoma is the only community a student has ever known, they are no longer eligible for in-state tuition, just because of their immigration status.
Senate Bill 1633 by Sen. Brenda Stanley seeks to turn the federal judge’s decision into state law, a move that would harm current and future generations of Oklahoma students. Forcing Oklahoma students to pay out-of-state tuition would more than double the cost of attending college and effectively prevent hundreds of perfectly qualified students from attending. Considering Oklahoma has the fifth-lowest share of degree holders in the country , it is against the state’s best interest to make it harder for our students to get a higher education. Instead of targeting Oklahoma students, we should expand, not constrict, access to higher education to ensure our future generations are educated and workforce-ready.
Oklahoma keeps choosing cruelty over common-sense policy
This session, legislators filed various immigration bills with a variety of topics, but the common pattern among them is that they seek to penalize immigrants and further marginalize our neighbors from everyday things such as attending school or accessing the help they need.
All Oklahomans who work hard and contribute to our economy should have the opportunity to thrive. Instead of forcing state agencies to report Oklahomans to a federal database, lawmakers should focus on safeguarding our rights. We could do this by passing legislation that ensures children can access the public benefits they pay into, that students who have lived in Oklahoma for years can attend college in the state they call home, and Oklahomans don’t face additional barriers to achieving the American Dream. For years, Oklahoma immigrants have strengthened our state and communities; lawmakers should not be targeting them by passing unnecessary and harmful legislation.
