Oklahoma GOP Slams Own Party Members For ‘Illegitimate’ Censure of Sen. James Lankford For Working on Border Deal Trump Opposes

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Conservative Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) received a major rebuke from his home state Republican leadership as a State Committee meeting voted to censure him over the weekend for working on a bipartisan bill to secure the southern border. On Monday, the Oklahoma GOP put out an official statement calling that meeting “illegitimate” — highlighting the intense division within the GOP over the issue.

The resolution condemning and censuring Lankford was shared on X by far-right Republican state Sen. Dusty Deevers. “Senator Lankford playing fast and loose with Democrats on our border policy not only disenfranchises legal immigrants seeking citizenship but it also puts the safety and security of Americans in great danger,” read the resolution. Deevers has made headlines in recent weeks for introducing bills to ban pornography, single people from sending nudes, and making divorce more difficult.

“Authorizing several thousand people to invade our borders before any action can be taken is contrary to the oath that Senator Lankford took to the Constitution and therefore outside of the area that he is authorized to negotiate in,” the resolution adds, apparently referring to reporting that the deal would allow migrants to cross the border before being shut down.

“The deal being negotiated in Congress would require the U.S. to shutter the border if roughly 5,000 migrants cross illegally on any given day. Some one-day totals last year exceeded 10,000,” reported AP on the deal that has been in the works for weeks and is likely to be presented in the coming days.

Local political reporter Carmen Forman reported on Monday that the “current, former GOP chairs say State Committee meeting was illegitimate” and that the official Oklahoma Republican Party distanced itself from the adoption of the resolution in a statement sent out via email. Forman wrote:

Republican Party Vice Chairman Wayne Hill called a Saturday meeting of the GOP State Committee, which governs the party, to vote on a series of issues and resolutions, including the measure condemning Lankford.

In an email Hill sent to his supporters at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, he said 172 Republicans attended the meeting in Oklahoma City and 124 members of the State Committee approved the resolution criticizing Lankford.

Former President Donald Trump is vocally opposing any deal to enhance border security, the AP added Trump is “loathe to give a win to Biden on an issue that animated the Republican’s successful 2016 campaign and that he wants to use as he seeks to return to the White House. Negotiators had appeared to be closing in on a deal, but it started to fray after Trump’s admonitions to conservative lawmakers grew stronger.”

Biden has vowed to use any additional authority to close the border as soon as Congress grants it to him. Biden said on Friday he believes the deal would grant him “a new emergency authority” to effectively close the border. “And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law,” Biden added.

Lankford accused his GOP colleagues of changing their tune on wanting to secure the border and shot down the idea his deal would allow people to cross the border illegally. “It’s definitely not going to let a bunch of people in,” Lankford told Fox News Sunday. “It’s focused on actually turning people around on it,” he insisted arguing that the GOP had long wanted to beef up border security, but that now “When we’re finally going to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding. I actually don’t want a change in law because it’s a presidential election year.’”

Update: This article was updated to note the additional statement from the Oklahoma Republican Party.