Oklahoma Troopers, ICE Arrest 73 Undocumented Immigrants in Guardian

(OKLAHOMA) Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 73 undocumented immigrants in a targeted sweep near the Arkansas border in eastern Oklahoma, part of a broader Operation Guardian crackdown that state officials say is focused on major transportation corridors, including Interstate 40. Governor Kevin Stitt announced the operation, framing it as a public safety push tied to commercial trucking and identity verification along high-traffic routes.

State officials said the 73 arrests in eastern Oklahoma formed one part of a larger effort that resulted in the apprehension of more than 125 illegal immigrants from multiple countries. According to details released with the governor’s announcement, those apprehended came from India, Uzbekistan, China, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Mauritania. The troopers and federal agents carried out the specific sting near the Arkansas line, an area that sees a steady flow of interstate trucking and cross-border traffic.

Governor Kevin Stitt linked Operation Guardian to concerns about unverified commercial drivers on Oklahoma roads and said the state would act when carriers and operators come through its jurisdiction.

“If New York wants to hand out CDLs to illegal immigrants with ‘No Name Given,’ that’s on them. The moment they cross into Oklahoma, they answer to our laws. I want to thank our troopers and ICE officials for their hard work. This is about keeping Oklahomans safe,”

Stitt said. His office said the operation was designed to identify and remove drivers who cannot prove their identities while operating heavy trucks across the state.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said it encountered commercial truck drivers operating with licenses from sanctuary states, including at least one license listing “No Name Given.” Officials described those operators as a public safety risk because they were driving 80,000-pound commercial vehicles without proper verification of identity. The state pointed to long-haul trucking routes that run east-west through Oklahoma as the reason Interstate 40 and nearby corridors featured prominently in Operation Guardian, which unfolded across checkpoints and traffic stops intended to flag irregular documents.

Authorities said the 73 arrests reported in eastern Oklahoma tie directly to that enforcement emphasis. The arrests came in areas near the Arkansas border where troopers and federal agents coordinated to pull aside tractor-trailers and other vehicles and review documents. State officials said the operation’s wider apprehension count—more than 125 people from the nine listed countries—reflects a series of stops and checks conducted over multiple encounters along the corridor. They did not immediately release the locations of each stop beyond the reference to Interstate 40 and the eastern Oklahoma sweep.

No individual names of those arrested have been released in the available sources as of November 4, 2025. Officials also did not provide a breakdown of how many of the more than 125 apprehensions were drivers versus passengers or other individuals encountered during the enforcement actions. The state framed the operation as a direct response to concerns that undocumented immigrants with questionable or incomplete licensing could be behind the wheel of large commercial vehicles on Oklahoma roads.

Operation Guardian, announced by the governor as a joint effort of troopers and federal agents, is being conducted with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The federal agency often works with state and local authorities on enforcement actions along transportation corridors to identify immigration violations and refer cases for federal processing. ICE did not release additional identities, case outcomes, or detention locations in the material cited by the state. For federal enforcement and processing information, the agency provides public updates and policy guidance through U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The involvement of commercial trucking became a central feature of the Oklahoma announcement. Troopers reported encountering drivers carrying licenses issued by states that they labeled as sanctuary jurisdictions, with at least one record showing “No Name Given.” State officials said that kind of entry on a commercial license compounds the risk when a fully loaded truck weighs 80,000 pounds and requires precise control and high standards of verification. They said Operation Guardian focused on intercepting those vehicles to confirm a driver’s identity and immigration status before allowing them to continue, and to arrest individuals when federal immigration violations were identified.

The governor’s statement emphasized the cross-border nature of highway enforcement and the limits of what Oklahoma can accept from other jurisdictions when it comes to identity standards. By highlighting a license marked “No Name Given,” Stitt sought to draw a line between other states’ documentation practices and what he called Oklahoma’s safety priorities. The arrests in eastern Oklahoma were presented as an example of how Operation Guardian is intended to work: troopers identify irregular documents during traffic stops, call in federal agents, and act against undocumented immigrants when violations are confirmed.

Officials said the more than 125 apprehensions linked to the broader sweep include people from India, Uzbekistan, China, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Mauritania. They did not detail how many of those individuals were tied to trucking specifically. The list of countries was released without additional demographic breakdowns, such as ages or family status, and there was no description of where the apprehended individuals would be held or whether any were referred for immigration court proceedings. The state did not release footage or still photographs from the eastern Oklahoma arrests.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol’s role in Operation Guardian places state troopers alongside federal agents as the first point of contact on the roadside. Troopers flagged trucks and other vehicles on Interstate 40 and adjacent routes and then coordinated with ICE when they found indicators of immigration violations or irregular identity documents. The state underscored that the operation was concentrated along major transportation corridors rather than neighborhood raids, casting the action as a road safety measure that coincides with immigration enforcement for undocumented immigrants encountered during stops.

In announcing Operation Guardian, Kevin Stitt framed the campaign as both a message to out-of-state authorities and a practical measure to reduce risk on Oklahoma highways.

“If New York wants to hand out CDLs to illegal immigrants with ‘No Name Given,’ that’s on them,” he said, repeating the argument that Oklahoma’s standards would apply once drivers crossed the state line. “The moment they cross into Oklahoma, they answer to our laws. I want to thank our troopers and ICE officials for their hard work. This is about keeping Oklahomans safe,”

The governor added, linking the arrests—73 in eastern Oklahoma and more than 125 apprehensions overall—to the broader promise of preventing crashes and curbing undocumented travel by truck.

As of the latest information released, no timeline was provided for the next phase of Operation Guardian, and officials did not disclose how long the current enforcement wave will continue along Interstate 40 and other corridors. The numbers released so far—73 arrests near the Arkansas border within the eastern Oklahoma sweep, and more than 125 people apprehended in total from nine countries—set the baseline for a crackdown that state leaders say will continue to target unverified commercial driving and undocumented immigrants moving through Oklahoma by road.