WASHINGTON—Last evening, the Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) filed a brief in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals defending Oklahoma’s new immigration law, which is the target of a lawsuit brought by the Biden Administration.
Following the example of Texas, which in response to the border crisis passed a sweeping immigration law, Oklahoma recently passed a law that makes illegal entry or reentry into the United States a state crime. Under the law, aliens found guilty of that crime must leave Oklahoma within 72 hours. The federal government claims the law is preempted by federal immigration law.
In its brief, IRLI makes a unique argument, showing that the law, far from being preempted, is actually contemplated by the federal government’s own criminal reentry statute, which makes it a federal crime to reenter the country after having been removed—including having been removed by agreeing to removal in a state court.
“This is yet another meritless lawsuit by an administration trying desperately to stop states from doing anything about a problem Biden steadfastly refuses to solve,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “Far from being inconsistent with this state law, federal immigration law explicitly gives effect to state removal laws such as this. We hope our brief, by bringing this feature of federal immigration law to the court’s attention, convinces the court to uphold Oklahoma’s effort to defend itself.”
The case is United States v. Oklahoma, No. 24-6144 (Tenth Circuit).
