Oklahoma officials say a targeted enforcement sweep along Interstate 40 in the state’s western counties led to the detention of more than 125 people lacking legal status, many of them commercial truck drivers. Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Monday that the operation, run by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol in partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under “Operation Guardian,” focused on the I-40 corridor near the Texas line.
According to the Governor’s Office, those detained came from multiple countries including India, Uzbekistan, China, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Mauritania.
Stitt’s office said troopers encountered numerous truck drivers holding commercial licenses issued by “sanctuary states,” including a New York CDL that listed the holder’s name as “No Name Given.” The state framed the issue as a safety risk, noting 80,000-pound rigs require verified operators. “If New York wants to hand out CDLs to illegal immigrants with ‘No Name Given,’ that’s on them. The moment they cross into Oklahoma, they answer to our laws,” Stitt said, thanking troopers and ICE for the operation.
Tim Tipton, Oklahoma’s Commissioner of Public Safety, said in a briefing that a recent 48-hour push along I-40 encountered more than 500 people at the port of entry, most of them driving commercial trucks, and that roughly 120 were turned over to ICE. Tipton said about 25.9% of contacts lacked legal status. He listed arrestees’ nationalities ranging from Tajikistan and India to Mexico and Venezuela, and said most of the commercial driver’s licenses were issued by California (44), New York (14), Pennsylvania (12) and Illinois (11). Vehicles left behind were impounded, he added.
The Governor’s Office put the sweep’s overall total at more than 125, while Tipton’s 48-hour figure captured a narrower slice of the campaign. Local outlets also reported the 125-plus tally and highlighted the I-40 focus in western Oklahoma.
Tipton said costs to the state are negligible because the patrol runs targeted “special emphasis” details as part of routine duties. He described the immigration checks on commercial trucking as a sustained public-safety effort that will continue along the corridor. “It’s one of our primary duties… to ensure the safety of our motoring public, and this is a true [threat], so we’re going to do everything we can to stop it,” Tipton said.
ICE did not immediately issue a separate tally or comment on next steps for those transferred to federal custody. State officials signaled additional, similar operations under Operation Guardian in the months ahead.
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