The Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP), in partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), has arrested 125 illegal aliens during a traffic stop operation.
The operation was conducted along Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma, where 125+ illegal aliens from all across the world were found to be driving both cars and commercial vehicles.
A press release from Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office noted that OHP “encountered numerous commercial truck drivers operating with licenses issued by sanctuary states,” including licenses with “No Name Given.”
“If New York wants to hand out CDLs to illegal immigrants with ‘No Name Given,’ that’s on them,” the governor said in a statement. “The moment they cross into Oklahoma, they answer to our laws.”
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.
OHP performed an enforcement action along I-40 and apprehended 125 illegal immigrants.
This is keeping Oklahomans safe. pic.twitter.com/kNspThTk4E
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) September 29, 2025
Oklahoma Department of Public Safety Commissioner Tim Tipton warned Fox News that illegal aliens driving commercial vehicles pose a serious safety risk.
“You don’t have a minor collision with a commercial vehicle,” he said. “An 80,000-pound truck at 70 miles an hour isn’t going to be a minor crash.”
According to Oklahoma station KOSU, the operation was specifically staged at a port of entry just east of the Texas border.
“Troopers, working in partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, screened 520 drivers over the course of a three-day blitz,” the station reported on Wednesday.
“A quarter of the people that we came into contact with didn’t have legal status to be here,” Tipton said.
The operation was part of the broader Operation Guardian that Gov. Stitt conceived of last year:
Our full story from Oklahoma on ‘Operation Guardian’ , it’s the first operation of its kind that will target and fast track the deportations of illegal immigrants incarcerated in the state’s prisons
Governor Kevin Stitt tells me that his state will be ready to present that plan… pic.twitter.com/ilvEHrJkD2
— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) December 23, 2024
Tipton told KOSU that, as part of the broader operation, every OHP officer has been authorized to interrogate, arrest, and detain illegal aliens.
“Allowing [troopers] to do this cross-commissioning or credentialing process, and allowing state and local law enforcement to do it, we now have a way to take enforcement action,” he said.
Stitt, meanwhile, told Fox News that the goal of the operation is to move illegal aliens from state/county custody into federal deportation proceedings.
“Former President Biden’s weak border policies allowed our country to become a safe haven for criminal illegal migrants — that ends in Oklahoma with Operation Guardian,” he said. “These dangerous illegal aliens should not be walking our streets, and they soon won’t be. Oklahoma will continue to stand for law and order.”
According to Tipton, most of the illegal aliens arrested during the weekend operation were transported for processing to an ICE office in Oklahoma City, while the rest were taken to Tulsa.
“And then from there, ICE then transfers them to whatever holding facility they’re going to use, whether it’s in Oklahoma or Texas,” Tipton noted. “Now that we have an administration in place that will let us apply the law, this absolutely will be a sustained model.”
Operation Guardian is moving forward at full speed. Time is up. pic.twitter.com/NezS1yMYM5
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) February 5, 2025
Oklahoma City station KWTV noted that, according to a February report from the Department of Public Safety, over 500 illegal aliens were incarcerated in the state’s Department of Corrections prior to the operation’s launch.
“Nearly a third of those inmates were serving time for violent crimes against children, while others were convicted of drug offenses, assault, sex crimes, or homicide,” the station reported.
Operation Guardian opened up a way for the illegals to be transferred into ICE custody and then deported.
“We’ll be able to leverage our existing law enforcement infrastructure and federal resources to enforce the law and keep Oklahomans safe,” Stitt said in February. “There will be no haven for illegal immigrants who break our laws.”
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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