Sgt. Christian Walsh of Barnsdall said he was as surprised as anyone when he arrested a member of a drug cartel. That’s also when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement noticed Walsh, he said. “When they fingerprinted him, it hit in the federal system that he was wanted for violations ,” Walsh said. “So they actually tried to place a hold on him. He accidentally got released before they came and got him. Well, the agent talked to me, explained to me the task force model and everything. I just presented it and they [the town] approved it. I think they’re okay with it ’cause they’re just looking for more help, more coverage.” Under a 287(g) agreement, Walsh is now deputized to act as a federal ICE agent, part of a vast and growing federalized network forming on the orders of the White House, Homeland Security, and the Justice Department. ICE’s plans got a major boost from the state of Oklahoma last year when Governor Kevin Stitt announced “Operation Guardian,” which deputized members of the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, and the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety to carry out immigration enforcement on behalf of ICE. In all, more than 30 Oklahoma departments or agencies have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE, including many small town police departments such as Barnsdall. Three have signed on in February so far. But while law enforcement has championed the agreements, immigration attorneys say many arrests are indiscriminate, that the majority of ICE enforcement actions in Oklahoma target immigrants with no criminal charges, and some who are following the law to legally immigrate. A Bust in the Asian District Oklahoma City’s Asian District, near the convergence of Classen Boulevard and NW 23rd Street, has long been considered a model of successful immigration. Vietnamese refugees who arrived in the 1970s and 80s transformed a stretch of run-down shops into a vibrant commercial district, and their children entered Oklahoma’s mainstream as judges, physicians, attorneys and business owners. Asian community groups raised money for Oklahoma City police equipment, including bulletproof vests. Now, some are finding it hard to trust officers who may soon be bringing ICE into the neighborhood. “There have been stories of people in our community getting detained by ICE and picked over for, like, a traffic ticket,” said Thuan Nguyen, a businessman and past President of the Asian District Cultural Association. “There has been activity and people have been alerted and there has been evidence of ICE cars in our community, the Asian District, in the last few weeks. That factor creates fear in people.” One such bust occurred recently at the Cameron Building, 2915 N. Classen Blvd., in the heart of the Asian District. The building also houses the offices of former Oklahoma Gov. David Walters. Walters said that on January 22, numerous law enforcement vehicles occupied the building’s parking lot, and ICE was present. Although he did not see the law enforcement action himself, Walters noted there were also ambulances present as his lot was being used for staging the vehicles. “This was right after the Minnesota shooting,” Walters said, referring to the January 7 shooting of Renee Good by federal agents in Minneapolis. “So I thought maybe they’re going to actually try to save somebody’s life if they happen to shoot ’em.” The building also houses offices of Legal Aid, the Veterans Administration and other state and federal agencies. “They were fairly freaked out about it,” Walters said. “It’s bad for my business. I don’t need to have ICE raiding my parking lot for no particular reason.” Joe Dorman, a former state representative and gubernatorial candidate, and the CEO of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy, showed up at his offices in the same building in the wake of the bust. “One of the residents in the building was wandering around the parking lot, and I rolled my window down and said, ‘Hey, are you lost?'” Dorman said. “She thought I was an ICE agent, so she just started yelling at me, and then she realized it was me.” Dorman said he and others heard reports of two people being arrested and detained, but that the agents staging in their area moved through the whole district. “They went through the Paseo,” he said. “They went along Classen through the Asian District, just checking different businesses. We don’t know if they had warrants to actually look for people specifically, or they were just doing snatch-and-grabs.” An immigration activist who works with community organizers in Oklahoma City to track ICE arrests and activities said the bust in the Asian district was conducted by Drug Enforcement Agency officers, not ICE, but that ICE was present, as those being arrested were immigrants. However, their status was legal and they were not turned over to ICE. “It was not led by ICE,” he said. “That raid lasted about two hours. We know an ICE stop is usually between four to seven minutes long. They love to get in and get out. That’s a dead giveaway that it wasn’t ICE-related.” Walters’ concerns stretched further. He noted that ICE’s budget increased from about $6 billion to more than $85 billion due to Donald J. Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act, making it the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the U.S.  “The danger of a federal police force, controlled by the White House, that is essentially a secret police force operating out of secret prisons?” Walters said. “The danger of that level of federalizing our state and local police forces should be evident to everybody.” Two days later, federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. Masks for Police The shootings of civilian protesters by masked federal agents in Minneapolis sparked a fierce debate in Congress and have led to a partial government shutdown. Democrats in Congress have pushed for a masks-off policy for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, and refuse to vote for funding without such a stipulation. Republicans insist that concealing agents’ identities protects them from retaliation. At least one small-town Oklahoma police chief comes down strongly on the mask-wearing side. Brad Alexander, chief of police in Sterling, was an early adopter of the 287(g) agreements, signing his in March 2025, shortly after Stitt’s announcement. Alexander operates under ICE’s Task Force model, the most expansive of the 287(g) agreements. Alexander said that on large operations, he is called into Oklahoma City to assist ICE. “When I’m assigned to 287(g), I’m an actual designated commissioned officer that works under ICE,” Alexander said. According to ICE, that model empowers police to conduct immigration enforcement while performing routine police duties and to assist the agency directly in targeted operations. “ICE will fully reimburse participating agencies for the annual salary and benefits of each eligible trained 287(g) officer, including overtime coverage up to 25% of the officer’s annual salary.” ICE also offers quarterly monetary performance awards based on the successful location of undocumented immigrants identified by ICE and overall assistance to further ICE’s mission, up to $1,000 per officer. “They have a contract with our town,” Alexander said. “They pay us, you know, for our time, wherever the hours are. It ain’t like a bounty.” In the Oklahoma City operations, he said, he worries about activists taking pictures of him and recording him while he is helping ICE conduct their arrests. “They talk about, ‘Why are you covering your face?’ Alexander said. “Well, let me just tell you, I’ve gone out and actually seen myself on video after being on the streets in Oklahoma City working. They were looking for ICE. And here we were making arrests. They were off there, recording and showing it on YouTube or Facebook or whatever. They have a network that they keep track of us when we’re in the city.” Community Response The activist, a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, said the network to track and document ICE activity sprang up in response to what he said are unlawful arrests being conducted by ICE in Oklahoma and throughout the country. The activist said ICE in Oklahoma City has about six cars, mostly SUVs, which, when seen by someone conducting a stop or a raid, alerts the network. Then he or others show up and photograph the agents making the stop. He said the scrutiny helps keep them from getting away with illegal arrests. “We’ve identified the vehicles,” he said. “So we know what kind of vehicles they drive, which ones exactly. And they had just pulled somebody over and arrested somebody who they had to let go because he had legal status.” He said ICE, as well as local law enforcement, have accused him of endangering the agents by photographing and recording them as they work. He believes such activity puts a target on his back. “The danger of that level of federalizing our state and local police forces should be evident to everybody.”Former Oklahoma Gov. David Walters “They’ve tried to accuse me of doxxing law enforcement,” he said. “No, I’m just letting families know, ‘Hey, this is where your husband’s van was left, or your cousin’s car was left or your son’s vehicle is here.’ That’s why we post the locations of where ICE has taken these people. Maybe that’s why they haven’t been able to get me yet, ’cause there’s no actual crime that we’ve committed against this federal agency.” A recent investigation by Reuters found that courts have ruled more than 4,400 times that ICE illegally detained people, but the agency shows no sign of stopping. More than 68,000 are in ICE detention. Port of Entry For another police chief, the problem began with all the trucks that started showing up. He asked not to be named because ICE told him not to talk to the press. His small town of fewer than 500, at the convergence of two state highways, suddenly became a favored route for about 400 to 500 semi trucks per day, he said. He said they would speed past the town’s tiny school, going 50 or more mph in a 25 mph zone. But when he would pull them over, some would hand him a card or a note, not a license at all. “They’re dodging the scales,” he said. “They’re dodging the port of entry. When you ask for a license, they hand you something from Mexico or Venezuela or whatever, and it’s not a, it’s not a driver’s license. I just didn’t know what to do with ’em.” So he called the Highway Patrol to ask about the license problem. That’s when they told him to sign up for the 287(g) agreement. He said he wants to help stem what illegal trafficking operations may be occurring through his small town, protect his residents, and get funding for new equipment and training. He said he has since become uncomfortable about associating his small town with ICE because of the recent blowback from the agency’s operations in Minneapolis. So far, he said, his department has not made one arrest under the 287(g) agreement they signed. The conditions under which he might arrest anyone are strict, he said. In fact, he said, he recently talked with one man in his town who he knew to be an undocumented immigrant, and told him to apply for citizenship so he wouldn’t be caught up. “I said, ‘Dude, just go get a fricking lawyer,’” the officer said. “‘You got enough money in your pocket. To do it, just go get a lawyer, get your shit together. Been here 20 years. That’s all they’re asking is do it legal.’” For Nguyen, politics is what has turned the immigration debate down a darker path. He urged more citizen involvement. He was one of many who appeared at an Oklahoma City Council meeting to stop ICE from creating a holding facility in a large empty warehouse. The owners of the proposed site for the city backed out of negotiations with ICE, quashing the deal. “We need to have good elected officials that realize that immigration is not a party issue,” Nguyen said. “It’s an everyone issue because it’s humanitarian, it’s a human issue. It should not take a political party side to side, whether to be human or not.” For the community activist, the arrests and surveillance by ICE, as well as by local law enforcement, underscore what he and others in immigrant communities now live with. He said his activism has gotten him followed by ICE to his place of work and to his home. Even though he is legally in the U.S. and allowed to work and live here, he believes he is liable to be arrested and deported, as has happened to others. “It is not normal for anybody to live this way, in constant fear and worry that this may be the day they get taken,” he said. “You know, it’s not a way to live.” Ben Fenwick is a Norman-based journalist and contributor to Oklahoma Watch. Contact him at [email protected]. The post More Than 30 Oklahoma Agencies Sign Immigration Enforcement Agreements appeared first on Oklahoma Watch. ...read more read less