Oklahoma has emerged as one of the most aggressive adopters of federal immigration enforcement agreements in the country, and the financial architecture behind that system could funnel more than $175 million annually into state and local agencies.
As Ben Fenwick reports, approximately 730 Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers are now certified under the Task Force Model, a broad 287(g) agreement that allows officers to make warrantless immigration arrests during routine police work.
At least 35 other state agencies have signed similar agreements. The model was discontinued by the Obama administration in 2012 after federal investigators found inadequate civil rights training and evidence of racial profiling, but President Trump reinstated it on his first day in office.
