Oklahoma governor says he'll stop plan to collect kids' immigration status

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said he will stop a plan pushed by the state’s top education official to collect the immigration status of children when they register for public school.

The Republican governor said Wednesday he is a staunch opponent of illegal immigration, but that policymakers should focus on targeting those in the country illegally who commit other crimes.

“Collecting 6, 7, 8-year-old kids’ addresses and immigration status in the state of Oklahoma, that’s not a public safety issue,” said Stitt, a second-term governor who is term-limited in 2026. “Let’s go after the people that are committing crimes, and let’s not terrorize and make our kids not show up for school.”

State Superintendent Ryan Walters pushed the proposal, which was approved by the State Board of Education last month, outraging teachers and civil libertarians and promoting fear in immigrant communities.

“The governor’s sound rejection of a radical attempt to undermine the right to education is a result of the concerted advocacy of parents, educators, and advocates across Oklahoma who mobilized to oppose it,” Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, said in a statement.

The proposed rule, which requires the governor's approval before it takes effect, mandates that parents or legal guardians provide proof of citizenship of their children when enrolling them in public school, including a U.S. birth certificate, U.S. passport, consular report of birth abroad, permanent resident card or other legal document.

Stitt also this week replaced three of the Board of Education members who approved the rule, saying he is frustrated by the idea that children were being used as “political pawns.”

Walters said in a statement that he intends to place two of the board members who were removed on a Trump advisory committee that will “continue to fight the liberal D.C. swamp that has now leaked into Oklahoma’s executive branch.”

The move by Stitt signals a growing weariness among some elected Republicans with Walters, Stitt's former secretary of education who has spent much of his first term in office attacking what he describes as “woke” ideology in public schools, requiring Bible instruction in classrooms and attempting to ban books from school libraries.

Walters has not announced plans to run for another office, but he is frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for governor or lieutenant governor in 2026.

“These guys are running for their next office,” Stitt said Wednesday. “They’re playing politics, trying to get their names in the paper, and Oklahomans can see right through it.”