Oklahoma Senate passes bill making illegal immigration a state crime

Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat said. "The Oklahoma Legislature is taking the necessary action to protect our citizens. Doing nothing is unconscionable and this legislation is the appropriate measure to keep Oklahomans safe and uphold the rule of law.”

Some questions:

• What does Oklahoma do now with undocumented immigrants it finds?
• Seeing as how the U.S. Customs Border and Protection "Order of Release on Cognizance" legally releases an immigrant into the U.S. as part of removal proceedings, what more does this Oklahoma law do exactly?

Without the answers to those questions, this seems performative to me, so Republicans in Oklahoma can say, "See! We're doing something!" despite achieving nothing at all.

Immigrants make up seven percent of Oklahoma’s labor force, most often in hard-to-fill jobs in hospitality, agriculture, and construction," said Sen. Michael Brooks, D-Oklahoma City. "They’re hard-working, contributing members of communities throughout our state. Oklahoma has 33,000 undocumented immigrants who pay about $26 million annually in state income tax. We’re already facing workforce shortages. How will we fill those jobs, or make up that $26 million? We need real solutions that put people over politics.

Call me crazy, but if the intent is really to keep Arkansas families “safe” from big bad illegals, there should be a distinction made between those contributing to the workforce and state economy positively. Like an expedited work visa maybe? Otherwise it sounds like this is just going to shoot themselves in the foot.