Oklahoma Police Departments, Hispanic Community Leaders Working Together Amid New Immigration Law Fears, Public Records Reveal

A fight over Oklahoma's controversial immigration bill continues to stew in federal court, after a judge blocked it from taking effect and the state filed an appeal.

House Bill 4156, which reflected ambitions from state leaders to stand up to federal immigration policy, has led to a wave of backlash. Oklahoma's Hispanic community and law enforcement departments have been two of the most vocal opponents of the bill.

"This law has the potential to destroy the connections and relationships we have built within our local immigrant communities and set us back for many years to come," law enforcement leaders wrote in a May joint statement between the Oklahoma Association of Chiefs of Police and Oklahoma City metro agency leaders.

The statement said law enforcement was not "substantively involved" when lawmakers wrote HB 4156. But, emails from recently retired Oklahoma City Police Chief Wade Gourley characterized the relationship with lawmakers in more explicit terms.

"We were not asked by anyone in the legislature for input into this bill as usual," Gourley wrote in a May email to members of his executive staff, the day after Gov. Stitt signed the bill into law.

Minutes later, he emailed his command staff and told them he had requested an immediate legal review of how the law would affect the department.

"I have no doubt community members will be reaching out to you for comment or guidance and I would hold off on anything until we can be educated," he said.

He followed up on that message to command staff with another which expressly shared his frustration.

"Once again, no help from the legislature when it comes to law enforcement," he added.

In alignment with other agencies, Oklahoma City Police advised its officers not to take any action on the law until it had a better understanding of how it could be enforced. It relied on its Latino community group for feedback, which included Hispanic Chamber of Commerce CEO David Castillo.

"Our police officers, our police departments, especially the Oklahoma City Police Department, they work within the community very well," Castillo said, commenting on the unique relationships between police and immigrant communities. "I think ultimately [the law is] going to be unconstitutional."

Oklahoma City Police also leaned on the Mexican Consulate. Its head consul, Edurne Pineda, said in an email to the department that the law was expected to "result in a loss of trust in authority" and could "negatively impact the main objective of fighting crime."

The law now remains in a federal appeals court. Oklahoma is attempting to keep the legal fight between itself and the federal government, which sued the state over the law.

A task force assembled by Gov. Stitt in response to concerns over the law released its final report last week.