Oklahoma Legislature Passes New Deportation Bill

The Oklahoma legislature has passed a new law that allows the state to deport illegal immigrants who are currently serving prison sentences for non-violent crimes.

The Oklahoma Criminal Illegal Alien Rapid Repatriation Act, which easily passed in both houses of the Legislature, could potentially save the state at least $4 million in its first year.

Under the new law, non-violent criminal offenders who are in the country illegally can be considered for deportation as long as they have served one-third of their sentence. The law also prohibits private prisons in Oklahoma from housing federal detainees, and requires those facilities to get approval from the state Department of Corrections for any new construction plans.

Rep. Randy Terrill, the state representative who authored the bill, said the goal of the new law is to return responsibility to the federal government to pay for housing illegal immigrants, which Terrill says has been shifting to the state governments. 

Currently the state of Oklahoma pays approximately $19,800 to house a prisoner.  According to the Corrections department, 230 inmates now being held in the state would be eligible for deportation under the new law.

According to Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for the central region of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the transferring of inmates could begin next month as long as final deportation orders are issued. Without a deportation order from the federal government, an inmate cannot be deported.

For more information about deportation laws, click here to find an immigration lawyer near you.