Apparently, at some point, our Oklahoma legislature voted to allow NON-CITIZENS TO BE OKLAHOMA LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS.
This morning, the Oklahoma House voted NOT TO REPEAL THAT LANGUAGE.
Here is the bill – HB1190. Please note; this is an amendatory bill – meaning that somewhere in the existing bill’s language, you’ll find language that is stricken through (repealed) or underlined (added to law).
Oklahoma conservative stalwart, Representative Rick West, authored the bill, which exists of only the repealed language on page 18 – below:
E. 1. No person shall be eligible for employment as a peace officer or reserve peace officer until the employing law enforcement agency has conducted a background investigation of such person consisting of the following:
i. such person has provided proof of United States citizenship or resident alien status, pursuant to an employment eligibility verification form from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
And this NEW language on pages 23 and 24 – below:
F. No person shall be certified as a police or peace officer by the Council or be employed by the state, a county, a city, or any political subdivision thereof, who is:
- Is a permanent resident alien; provided, however, any person who has been trained and certified by the Council and is actively employed as a full-time peace officer as of November 1, 2025, shall not be subject to the provisions of this paragraph.
This morning, Representative Jay Steagall texted me the following X post:
So yesterday, Oklahoma rep. Rick West got a floor vote on HB1190, which would bar non citizens from being state law enforcement officers. Republicans have an 80-19 majority, yet only 33 of them were willing to vote for the bill. I get it that many of them are uncomfortable
Along with the link to the X post, Rep. Steagall texted, “Imagine living in a state, where just last year the People voted to ensure that ONLY citizens could vote, yet the Oklahoma House of Representatives defiantly ensures the ability for non-citizens to enforce the law. This makes absolutely no sense to me.”
As Horowitz said in his post, “I get it that many of them are uncomfortable excluding legal permanent residents. Yes, all private sector jobs are opened to them. However, we are a nation of citizens and we should not have non citizens with law enforcement powers over citizens.”
AMEN! How in the world does allowing a non-citizen of Oklahoma – let alone AMERICA – arrest me protect my rights and my liberties? What’s the point of being a citizen of this state or nation then?
So, in case you can’t see it on the X post, I’m pasting the NO votes below because we need to know ALL the HOUSE members in the SQUISHY MIDDLE without enough guts to stand up to the PC crowd who tells us we can’t discriminate against people WHO AREN’T CITIZENS IN THIS COUNTRY!
FYI: This passed through the Public Safety Committee with the following votes:
YEAS: 5 – Hardin, Humphrey, Kelley, May, Turner
NAYS: 1 – Lowe (J)
It passed through the Public Safety OVERSIGHT Committee with the following votes:
YEAS: 10 – Culver, Duel, Ford, Hardin, Harris, Kane, Kannady, Manger, Sterling, Worthen
NAYS: 3 – Lowe (J), Rosecrants, Schreiber
Think on that a second: Culver, Duel, Ford, Harris, Kane, Manger and Sterling voted to allow the bill to pass from committee to be heard on the floor, where they voted against it. Yes, it’s great these Reps allowed the bill to be debated on the floor, but it’s very sad they didn’t have the guts to vote FOR it on the floor.
Truly, this is NOT OK, but virtually the same thing was done on the Senate side yesterday when they voted to allow anti-Semitism to become a legal offense in Oklahoma, invalidating every Oklahoman’s First Amendment Right. Here are the Senators who voted FOR that:
NOW YOU HAVE THE NAMES OF THE SQUISHY MIDDLE IN BOTH THE HOUSE AND THE SENATE. Let’s work to educate the newbies in the Senate (Gillespie, Grellner, McIntosh and Wingard) and toss out the rest.
Representative Rick West responded to my request for comment. Here’s the gist of what he said.
Rick said he’d run the bill twice or three times before at the request of a constituent and it had always passed out of the house before, but never got a hearing in the Senate. This time he was shocked that it went down in the House. He knew the Democrats would vote against it, but he was pretty shocked at the attitude some House members had about non-US citizens going through CLEET training.
“They can’t vote, but we’re going to allow them to go through CLEET?” he sked.
He told me he thinks that this particular law has been on the books as long as Oklahoma has had the law establishing CLEET.
I asked him if he knew whether or not we had non-citizens in any of our Oklahoma law enforcement arms since the provision has been in law so long.
“When I first ran this bill I did the research. No, I don’t know of any that are hired in law enforcement. I know the OSBI doesn’t have any, I know the other law enforcement don’t have any. Someone made a good point – you have to be a US citizen to be hired by all the US law enforcement services, so what are we doing here in Oklahoma allowing non-citizens to be CLEET certified and carry a gun and arrest US citizens?” he asked.
He said that some of the pushback he received from House members was from some in law enforcement who felt that interpreters were needed, but he made it clear that anyone wanting to be an interpreter can interpret without going through CLEET training.
The oddest thing to Rep. West was that, though the Democrats asked the same questions they always have, the mood was different with the Republicans this time. They told him things like – we need these people, we have a shortage of law enforcement – and that surprised him.
He told me that he’s had bills getting voted down, that wasn’t the issue. It was the mood of the legislature this time on this issue that struck him more than anything and that, I think, should concern ALL conservative Oklahomans.
