By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

In another highway operation targeting dangerous drivers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and Oklahoma Department of Public Safety arrested 70 foreign nationals driving on interstate highways in Oklahoma.

In two days, they arrested drivers from 15 countries – all in the U.S. illegally. The majority had driver’s licenses in violation of federal law and Oklahoma state law.

During “Operation Guardian,” ICE and DPS Highway Patrol troopers working through ICE’s 287(g) program arrested illegal foreign nationals driving semi-trucks in violation of state commercial driver’s license laws and federal immigration law.

“Operation Guardian continues to successfully keep Oklahomans safe,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said. “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.”

Overall, 36 arrested had been convicted of violent crimes; 34 were found to be violating state law by operating a semi-truck or commercial vehicle while in the U.S. illegally, ICE said. Among them, only 26 had CDLs.

Many of their CDLs were issued in the Democratic-led states of California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York, OHP found.

Eight arrested were driving commercial motor vehicles without a CDL at all, OHP found.

The operation was the second within a few weeks targeting illegal drivers on interstate highways in Oklahoma. A previous operation conducted along I-40 led to the arrest of 120 illegal foreign nationals. The majority, 91, were operating a commercial vehicle with a CDL, The Center Square reported.

“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,” ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Executive Associate Director Marcos Charles said. “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.”

Those with criminal histories were convicted of assault and battery, soliciting prostitution, and DUI, authorities found.

Two arrested are wanted by foreign governments for fraud and burglary, ICE said.

While arresting the drivers, OHP troopers also arrested three other illegal foreign nationals for obstruction and resisting arrest, OHP said. ICE lodged immigration detainers with the Oklahoma County Jail to take them into federal custody.

The 70 arrested were citizens of China, Colombia, Georgia, Guatemala, India, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Venezuela, ICE said.

The 287(g) partnership between ICE and Oklahoma DPS OHP “highlights the success possible when cities and states partner with ICE to make the nation’s communities and roads safer places,” ICE said. “Illegal aliens who engage in criminal activity or operate vehicles without proper authorization jeopardize public safety and undermine the rule of law. This operation sends a clear message that this will not be tolerated.”

The 287(g) program is named after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1996, 8 USC 1357, Section 287(g)(1), which authorizes ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration functions only under ICE’s direction and supervision. Local law enforcement officers can apply to participate in the Jail Enforcement Model (JEM), Task Force Model (TFM) and Warrant Service Officer (WSO) model, The Center Square reported.

In Oklahoma, multiple agencies are already participating in 287(g), including the sheriff’s offices of Blaine, Canadian, Lincoln, Muskogee, Okmulgee, Texas and Tulsa counties; the Barnsdall, Eufaula, Geary, Sterling and Vinita police departments; Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Oklahoma Department of Public Safety and the Criminal Justice Authority and district attorney’s office of Okmulgee County, according to ICE data.

Additional applications are pending in Oklahoma submitted by police and sheriff’s offices.