Oklahoma Operation Guardian arrests 120 illegal immigrants with ICE

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol, working with ICE agents, arrested 120 illegal immigrants during an operation at a port of entry near the Texas border.

The plan, dubbed Operation Guardian, was a comprehensive deportation effort launched by Gov. Kevin Stitt in coordination with Oklahoma’s Department of Public Safety.

The sting took place along Interstate 40, where officials found most offenders with unverifiable licenses behind the wheels of 80,000-pound 18-wheelers.

During the operation, troopers encountered more than 500 people and turned 120 over to ICE, according to officials.

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Department of Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton said the findings were alarming, highlighting a serious safety risk. Many of the licenses were either expired by nearly a decade or listed under a single name, making identification impossible.

“You don’t have a minor collision with a commercial vehicle,” Tipton said. “An 80,000-pound truck at 70 miles an hour isn’t going to be a minor crash.”

Oklahoma’s Operation Guardian plan states that the state currently houses about 525 undocumented offenders in its prisons, costing $36,000 per day.

The plan alleges that 30% of those crimes are violent offenses against children, 20% violent assaults, 14% homicides or other violent deaths, and 7% sex crimes. It notes that most offenders are from Mexico (72%), followed by Guatemala, Honduras, and Vietnam.

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Stitt said the operation is designed to move undocumented offenders directly from state and county custody into federal deportation proceedings, ending what he calls years of federal neglect.

“Former President Biden’s weak border policies allowed our country to become a safe haven for criminal illegal migrants — that ends in Oklahoma with Operation Guardian,” Stitt said. “These dangerous illegal aliens should not be walking our streets, and they soon won’t be. Oklahoma will continue to stand for law and order.”

The plan expands ICE agreements so some state and local officers can detain and transfer offenders. It also allows parole boards to send noncitizen inmates straight to federal custody if deportation orders are already in place.

It will implement a Rapid REPAT program as well, allowing eligible inmates to skip appeals and move directly into deportation.

Tipton emphasized the operation was about more than immigration policy — it was about protecting families on Oklahoma’s roads and in its communities.

“This plan ensures Oklahoma leads the nation in cracking down on illegal aliens who’ve committed crimes against our communities,” Tipton said. “Operation Guardian is a direct response to the threat these criminals pose to our citizens.”