Republican Official Invites ICE to Raid Public Schools Next

Oklahoma’s state superintendent is inviting ICE to raid public schools. 

“In Oklahoma, we’re gonna work with law enforcement, we are gonna work with the Trump administration,” Ryan Walters told Oklahoma journalist Brenna Rose. “However President Trump decides to carry out the actions around his immigration policy, we’re gonna absolutely work with him on that. We’re gonna make sure that he has what he needs from us to carry those things out.”

“So you’re not completely ruling out a raid on an Oklahoma school?” Rose asked pointedly.

“No, if that’s what President Trump sees fit, as there’s [an] illegal immigrant population there that needs to have enforcement to remove them from the schools, absolutely. We will work with him to make sure that he’s able to carry that out.”  

Walters has served as Oklahoma public schools superintendent since 2020, and has been a staunch MAGA advocate in that tenure. Last year, he made the Bible required reading in public schools, saying that “without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation.” When the state opened bids for companies seeking to supply the Bible, the requirements were so narrow the Trump Bible was one of the only ones to fit the bill. (Walters is currently being sued over the entire mandate.) He has also referred to teachers as “radical leftists” who are “turning our schools into Epstein Island.” And just last month, he proposed a rule that would let the Oklahoma State Department of Education gather data on undocumented children in public schools. 

Ushering ICE agents into public schools is yet another mask-off moment for the Trump administration and all its allies.