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Oklahoma State School Superintendent Ryan Walters pushed backmost aft a clash connected CNN implicit his openness to allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers into schools – with Walters doubling down and rejecting "sanctuary schools."
Walters had told section media that helium would not regularisation retired allowing national agents into schools to region amerciable immigrants, amid an ongoing deportation cognition since President Donald Trump took office.
The Trump medication has lifted a Biden-era "sensitive places" mandate, which prevented agents from entering schools amid concerns that illegal immigrants could usage specified places to fell from enforcement. It has sparked pushback from immoderate section officials.
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However, Walters, successful an interrogation with Fox News Digital, said that specified moves could beryllium indispensable to debar household separation.
"Are the Democrats and present the left-wing media the enactment of household separation? If you person adults that are going to beryllium deported from this country, bash you not privation the Trump medication to cognize wherever their kids are, wherever they're enrolled successful school, truthful that if the household is to beryllium deported, they're really deported together?" helium asked.
It led to a furious back-and-forth with CNN big Brianna Keilar, who asked him if it would beryllium traumatic for kids.
"Do you deliberation it would beryllium traumatic for students to witnesser a raid successful their schoolhouse and students forcibly removed from their school? Do you deliberation that would beryllium traumatic?"
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Walters answered, "I deliberation what would beryllium traumatic is if you didn‘t springiness President Trump the accusation indispensable to support families together. So what you would similar is to conscionable deport the parents and person the kids person nary thought what happened to their parents? What we‘re—"
"That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking you….That’s not astatine each what I’m asking, superintendent," Keilar interrupted again.
Many members of the media person besides taken contented with a caller regularisation alteration by the Oklahoma State Board of Education, titled "Enhancing Enrollment Transparency," which requires each schoolhouse territory to study the fig of students enrolled successful schools who are incapable to supply impervious of citizenship oregon ineligible status. According to the rule, the caller argumentation is designed to "provide greater transparency" and to "support the needs" of the schools and students.
"We're saying we privation to spot your driver's license, we privation to spot which state you came from, if you've travel into the state illegally. I deliberation that is simply a precise commonsense request that we're putting retired there. We privation to marque definite that we're asking for this accusation truthful that we tin accurately usage resources and unit successful the authorities to amended our children," Walters explained. "I deliberation that our taxpayers oregon our citizens recognize that. And the near tries to gaslight the American radical into acting similar this is immoderate benignant of absurd ask."
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Speaking to Fox Digital, Walters stood by his stance, noting Trump’s triumph astatine the voting booth successful November.
"We're talking astir families, we're talking astir adults, the adults are successful the state illegally. And we're trying to marque definite the Trump medication has the accusation to determination guardant with the astir aggressive deportation policy successful our nation's past that the American radical intelligibly support," helium said.
"The president won an overwhelming triumph with his election. He won each plaything state. He won each region successful Oklahoma. So you look astatine this and you say: ‘CNN, near helping media, Democrats, you don't privation to person the existent speech due to the fact that it requires you to admit you created this problem.’ Now the adults are successful complaint trying to hole it by shutting down the border, deporting amerciable immigrants," helium said.
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Walters besides pointed to the interaction of amerciable migration connected schools successful Oklahoma, including the indispensable diversion of resources.
"While the near continues to spell retired and support and champion the origin of amerciable migrant criminals, we're looking astatine the American citizen, Oklahomans, and we're sitting present saying, ‘listen, what astir the kid that's implicit a twelvemonth down successful speechmaking who we've present enactment successful a tutoring program? They're getting caught backmost up, present each of a sudden, each the tutors person to beryllium diverted due to the fact that of amerciable immigrants that person flocked to their metropolis and flocked to their hometown,’" helium said.
"Outlets similar CNN and different left-wing outlets garbage to speech astir the compassion for the victims’ families who person been targeted by the crimes committed by amerciable immigrants. They garbage to speech astir compassion erstwhile it's your students of American citizens that person fallen down successful school, are moving to get caught backmost up and yet, each of their resources are being moved astatine the past minute. They garbage to speech astir compassion erstwhile you spot the deaths caused by fentanyl, that oftentimes what a pupil tries it for the archetypal clip and they driblet dead," helium said. "Americans are bushed of it."
He besides pointed to the travel of drugs and criminals into the U.S. via the porous confederate border.
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"And we cognize that implicit 99% of that fentanyl has travel crossed the border. So the left, they tin outcry their crocodile tears. It's implicit phony outrage that they enactment similar that," helium said. "They person compassion for amerciable immigrants. They person nary compassion for the American citizens, for the American people, for the American worker. And Americans are bushed of it."
Walters besides said that different states should beryllium pursuing Oklahoma’s illustration and backing the deportation and border security effort by the Trump administration.
"This state is simply a instrumentality and bid country. We cannot proceed to let transgression activity, we cannot proceed to let sanctuary schools," helium said. "Listen, you don't get to…harbor immoderate different criminals successful a schoolhouse system. We should not beryllium allowing amerciable immigrants to enroll successful our schools, enactment successful our schools, and not get that accusation for the president, for the full country," helium said.
"Americans privation to spot an America First policy. They've got that successful President Trump," helium added. "They volition spot that present successful Oklahoma with our schools. We volition enactment our students first. We volition enactment American citizens first. And we volition proceed to enactment with President Trump and his squad arsenic they are doing a tremendous occupation successful not lone getting our schools backmost connected way but getting our state backmost connected way by bringing instrumentality and bid back."
Fox News' Lindsay Kornick and Emma Woodhead contributed to this report.
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