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Over the weekend, tensions heightened between community members and federal officials carrying out immigration raids in Los Angeles. In response, President Donald Trump authorized the deployment of California National Guard troops to protect federal law enforcement as residents protested the immigration raids.
The raids come as the Trump administration has announced its intention to arrest as many immigrants as they can to meet arbitrary, self-imposed daily arrest quotas. Even if the people who are the focus of these raids include long-standing community members who don’t have criminal records and are even trying to follow our nation’s convoluted citizenship processes. These raids have even swept up U.S. citizens and people who are in our country lawfully, sometimes solely based on their skin color.
The president’s federalization of state National Guard troops marks the first time since the civil rights protests of 1965 that a president has invoked his legal authority to activate and deploy the National Guard without the cooperation of the state’s governor.
The federal government’s use of tear gas and National Guard troops against protestors in Los Angeles should sound an alarm for residents in every state — including places like Oklahoma that are far from a border. These tactics may start in Los Angeles, but history tells us they won’t stay there.
If the Trump administration begins to carry out workplace raids or conduct enforcement operations in Oklahoma communities with large immigrant populations, local residents could rise up in protest. Will Oklahomans also be tear-gassed for defending their immigrant loved ones? Will peaceful protestors be patrolled by heavily armed police for exercising their First Amendment rights?
Oklahoma has more than 245,000 immigrant residents, of which about six percent are under the age of 18. These are more than just statistics. They represent Oklahoma parents and children; people who are our family members, our friends, and our neighbors.
We are at an inflection point in our country. Immigration enforcement isn’t taking place on faraway borders; it’s happening in our neighborhoods. And it’s happening to people who have lived peacefully alongside us for decades.
The protests in Los Angeles are a manifestation of a community’s anger against the family separations and disruptions caused by overzealous immigration enforcement. What’s happening in California today could happen tomorrow in other states, including Oklahoma. Now is the time to speak up-before scenes of armed confrontation come to our own front doors.
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How to contact your federal representatives
President Donald Trump
- Phone: 202-456-1414
U.S. Senators
U.S. Representatives
- Kevin Hern, District 1
- Josh Brecheen, District 2
- Frank Lucas, District 3
- Tom Cole, District 4
- Stephanie Bice, District 5
Don’t know your U.S. Representative? Use OK Policy’s Find Your Legislator tool to find out.
