Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) said Friday he would help President-elect Trump deport immigrants in his state who entered the country illegally, during an appearance on Fox News.
Stitt has already placed the state's commissioner of public safety in charge of these efforts, which will start within prison systems, as state records show more 500 prisoners are immigrants in the country without permission, according to the governor’s office.
“We want to be ready Day 1 in office — when President Trump takes office. I put our commissioner of public safety in charge and I said, 'Listen, everybody that's in our prisons that are here illegally, that are breaking our laws, we believe in public safety,'” he said on air.
“We want to protect the citizens of Oklahoma and we want to be ready to get them out of our state and out of our country before you see another one of the issues that affected Georgia with the Laken Riley case.”
He blamed President Biden for a four-year border crisis and uptick in immigration.
“The first thing we're going to focus on are the people that have committed crimes. I think that's what President Trump's going to do. And then once you secure the border, which Biden has failed to do for the last four years, and that's why the American people overwhelmingly supported President Trump because they know he's going to secure the border Day 1,” he added.
Stitt said he believes in allowing immigrants to enter the country through legal measures.
“And then you can look at immigration policy and state-based work visas. Because if there's people that are trying to do the right thing, chasing the American dream, I believe we should match employers with employees and turn from education visas if you're getting an engineering degree from one of our universities to get them into the workforce,” he suggested.
“But we're going to start with the illegal activity.”
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey (D) has decided not to use state police to assist with mass deportations. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) said she would help Trump but “won’t tolerate terrorizing communities.”
Trump has said he will spare no costs to oversee “the largest deportation in American history” on Day 1 of his administration.
“Day 1 in office with an executive order, all President Trump has to do is go back to his policies of remain in Mexico and just instruct our Border Patrol to do their job. It's already a federal law that you cannot enter our country except one of these 28 ports of entry along the Texas-Mexico border,” Stitt said.
