Tulsa County sheriff’s deputies will be searching for weapons, not immigration documents, at the Tulsa State Fair, according to Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado.
Regalado urged the immigrant community to come to the fair as he took questions about the department’s recently expanded partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Under the new 287(g) agreement, nine deputies involved with drug and homeland security investigations can now make warrantless immigration arrests. None are on patrol.
“Go to the fair. We run security at the fair. We don’t check immigration. We don’t check ID,” Regalado said at the Sept. 10 Greater Tulsa Area Hispanic/Latinx Affairs Commission meeting. “We check for people carrying guns, bad stuff, all that, and that’s it.”
At last year’s fair there were 24 arrests, but none for firearms. It was the first in the fair’s history.
This year, the Tulsa State Fair runs from Oct. 1-11.
“Everybody is welcome,” said Regalado.
Discovered by Documenters
This was informed by Russell Cobb and Matt Rudy’s Documenter notes from the Greater Tulsa Area Hispanic/Latinx Affairs Commission meeting Sept. 10. Find out more about how Tulsa Documenters works here.
News decisions at the Tulsa Flyer are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
