Oklahoma Governor Disavows Letter Supporting Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Immigrants

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signs documents in an undated photo downloaded on Oct. 14, 2022. (Courtesy of State of Oklahoma)

A letter purportedly stating Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s support for a bill allowing illegal immigrants to obtain an Oklahoma driver’s license does not reflect his position, the governor’s communications director said.

“To be very clear: The letter was not written by Governor Stitt,” Carly Atchison wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

The bill, SB 669, was scheduled to go before the Oklahoma Senate on March 21. According to the bill’s author, Oklahoma City immigration attorney and Democratic State Sen. Michael Brooks-Jimenez, the bill could allow illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

The letter was sent to several members of a Second Amendment rights organization in Oklahoma who had emailed Stitt asking about his position on the issue.

Atchison said the letter was not written by Stitt and should not have been sent. She did not explain who wrote the letter or how it came to be sent.

She wrote that Stitt is aware of the legislation and its companion bill in the Oklahoma House of Representatives but has no comment on either of them.

The Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City on Sept. 30, 2015. (Reuters/Jon Herskovitz)

“We withhold comment on bills until they reach the governor’s desk. Currently we are reviewing this bill along with many others making their way to the House and Senate floor this week,” Atchison’s email reads.

Don Spencer is president of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Foundation. He said several members of his organization received the message as an automatic response to an email they sent asking where Stitt stood on issuing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

Spencer confirmed that a letter dated March 16, 2023, acquired by The Epoch Times, is the letter in question. The letter expresses support for HB 2114, the companion to SB 669 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and lists potential benefits and safeguards in the law.

Spencer posted a video on his group’s YouTube channel on March 17 of Brooks-Jimenez discussing the bill before the Aeronautics and Transportation committee. At that meeting, State Sen. Joe Newhouse, a Republican, asked Brooks-Jimenez if the bill could be construed to allow an illegal immigrant to receive a driver’s license.

‘Gov Stitt Does Not Support Illegal Immigration’

“If they’re paying their fair share, if they’re paying their taxes arm-in-arm with the rest of us, then they should have that opportunity,” Brooks-Jimenez answered.

Atchison said Stitt adamantly opposes illegal immigration and has been a vocal critic of President Joe Biden’s policies on the southern border. She wrote that Stitt is part of a coalition of 10 governors who have devised their own plan to deal with the fallout of illegal immigration.

“Governor Stitt does not support illegal immigration,” Atchison’s email reads. “The Biden administration has been a total failure, leaving it up to governors like himself and Greg Abbott to solve the many problems that come with having an open border, including human and drug trafficking.”