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Undocumented Tulsans fear going to school, work as immigration arrests publicized

An Immigration Customs and Enforcement agent stands outside a building ICE agents searched on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, at the intersection of Troost Avenue and South Sixth Street in Tulsa.
Elizabeth Caldwell
/
KWGS News
An Immigration Customs and Enforcement agent stands outside a building ICE agents searched on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, at the intersection of Troost Avenue and South Sixth Street in Tulsa.

A Tulsa official is urging people to oppose the deportation of undocumented immigrants following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

The White House said last week the “largest massive deportation operation in history is well underway.” On the campaign trail, Trump promised to expel every person in the country illegally. Immigration Customs and Enforcement reports its daily average for detentions has more than doubled from Biden Administration averages since Jan. 23; federal officials have touted the numbers amid highly publicized deportation campaigns.

Hispanic Affairs Commissioner Amanda Peregrina says immigrants in Tulsa are afraid to go about their daily lives.

“That’s going to affect people not coming to work or people not coming to schools, because people are afraid of coming out and just being targets,” she said.

Tulsa Hispanic Affairs Commissioner Amanda Peregrina speaks following a Human Rights Commission meeting Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, at Tulsa City Hall.
Max Bryan
/
KWGS News
Tulsa Hispanic Affairs Commissioner Amanda Peregrina speaks following a Human Rights Commission meeting Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, at Tulsa City Hall.

Peregrina said she’s concerned law enforcement will racially profile people and target undocumented immigrants not suspected of crimes. She pointed to the contributions of undocumented people — an Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy study estimates undocumented Oklahomans pay $227 million in state taxes.

Tulsa Public Schools has also reportedly seen a significant dip in enrollment among its Hispanic students. The district’s enrollment dipped by 217 from Jan. 9-10 and has since gained 57 students, according to TPS records.

School Board President Stacey Woolley said more than half these students are Hispanic, and said the district typically sees enrollment dips only five to ten percent of this number at the beginning of a spring semester.

“I absolutely believe that it is a combination of our new president and our state superintendent of schools,” said Woolley. A TPS spokesperson on Wednesday did not “have the data immediately available to confirm or deny” if the enrollment dip was Hispanic students.

On Tuesday, State Superintendent Ryan Walters and the state board of education passed a rule requiring public schools in Oklahoma to list the immigration statuses of students and their parents despite the federal government forbidding the practice. The rule is currently unenforceable because the state Legislature and governor haven't signed off on it.

KWGS has reached out to Walters’ office for a response to the enrollment dip at TPS.

Latino Immigrants and their supporters chant in protest of the new administrative rule change requiring schools to collect the immigration status of public school students and their parents, Jan. 28, 2024, outside the Oliver Hodge Education Building.
Lionel Ramos
/
KOSU
Latino Immigrants and their supporters chant in protest of the new administrative rule change requiring schools to collect the immigration status of public school students and their parents, Jan. 28, 2024, outside the Oliver Hodge Education Building.

Woolley said TPS officials would refer to their legal team before making a decision on whether or not to let immigration police into schools. She also said officers would be required to go through all the steps any guest would if they were to enter a school.

If an immigration raid were to happen, Woolley said, it would be traumatic for all students — not just undocumented ones.

“The idea that we would create something like a police state intentionally within our schools is beyond, you know, anything that I could possibly understand,” she said.

Mayor Monroe Nichols said last month that Tulsa police won’t cooperate if Trump's administration tries to deport undocumented immigrants not suspected of crimes.

Max Bryan is a news anchor and reporter for KWGS. A Tulsa native, Bryan worked at newspapers throughout Arkansas and in Norman before coming home to "the most underrated city in America." Several of Bryan's news stories have either led to or been cited in changes both in the public and private sectors.