Governor Stitt Provides Update on Operation Guardian Targeting Illegal Immigrant CDL Drivers
Today, Governor Kevin Stitt provided an update on Operation Guardian, after a commercial motor vehicle enforcement action in eastern Oklahoma.
“Operation Guardian continues to successfully keep Oklahomans safe,” said Gov. Stitt. “To lawfully operate a commercial motor vehicle in Oklahoma, you must be here legally and you must be able to understand English. These are common sense standards that we will continue to enforce.”
Earlier this week, Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a 15-hour operation along the I-40 eastern corridor. Officers made over 500 contacts, including 209 CMV inspections. The operation resulted in 70 illegal immigrants taken into custody, 34 of whom were operating large commercial motor vehicles. Additional arrests included individuals with active felony warrants, including one confirmed INTERPOL warrant.
“For the second time in just the past month, the state of Oklahoma and ICE have banded together to bolster public safety along Oklahoma’s highways, identifying and apprehending illegal aliens who are in the country illegally and have been recklessly issued a commercial driver’s license by states like California, Illinois, and New Jersey,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Executive Associate Director Marcos Charles. “Many of the illegal aliens arrested behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound tractor trailer can’t even read basic English, endangering everyone they encounter on the roads.”
This operation comes after a similar one in September, where the OHP conducted a 30-hour operation with ICE along I-40 in Western Oklahoma. The operation resulted in 520 contacts and 120 arrests of illegal aliens, including 91 commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers, with criminal histories including DUI, illegal re-entry, money laundering, human smuggling, assault, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and possession of controlled substances.
Those detained came from countries including Tajikistan, India, El Salvador, Uzbekistan, Russia, Ukraine, Mexico, and others, and held commercial driver licenses from multiple states, including California, Illinois, Washington, and New York.
Click HERE for the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety full report.
