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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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Oklahoma Republicans have approved a resolution censuring the state's Sen. James Lankford for his work on a bipartisan border deal.
The Oklahoma Republican Party (OKGOP) state committee members passed the resolution during a meeting on Saturday, according to a news release.
The resolution said Lankford, also a Republican, was recently working with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, on "an open-border deal to allow 5,000 illegal immigrants a day to enter and work in the United States."
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It said that 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."
There were more than 2.4 million encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border during the 2023 fiscal year, up from roughly 1.7 million in 2021, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a proponent of stronger border control, constructed the razor-wire as a series of measures he says is intended to prevent illegal entry from Mexico into his state, which shares more than 1,200 miles of the border.
The Oklahoma state committee's resolution said the OKGOP "strongly condemns Sen. James Lankford, if and to the extent that he continues these actions, and calls upon him to cease and desist jeopardizing the security and liberty of the people of Oklahoma and of these United States."
It adds that until he "ceases from these actions, the Oklahoma Republican Party will cease all support for him."
In a statement provided to Newsweek, OKGOP vice chairman Wayne Hill said the OKGOP state committee is "committed to holding elected Republicans accountable to the standards set forth in the OKGOP platform which supports limited legal immigration."
He added: "It is our hope that Sen. Lankford will acknowledge the direction of the state committee and do all in his power to defend out border from the current invasion."
After the resolution was approved, Lankford posted on X: "Border security is national security."
Newsweek has contacted Lankford's office for further comment via email.
Meanwhile, Anthony Ferate, a former chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party said the vote was not legitimate without an official call to all members.
"Today an extreme faction of the @officialOKGOP held a meeting without providing an official call to all members of the state committee, including me, to attack Sen. @jameslankford," Ferate wrote on X.
"Any vote taken by the OKGOP today was not legitimate and definitely does not represent the voice of all Oklahoma Republicans."
Hill told Newsweek that "the grassroots movement in Oklahoma is strong and growing, because we take action and not provide empty promises."
Ferate, he said, is "a protector of the old guard of establishment Republicans" and "out of touch with the pulse of our OKGOP state committee membership."
Ferate haș been contacted for comment via email.
Lankford has been working with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent from Arizona, and Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, for weeks to strike a bipartisan agreement to deal with the number of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border.
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CBS News reported on Sunday that the senators are on the verge of an agreement that could be announced in the coming days.
It would reportedly give the executive branch the authority to shut down the border when migrant crossings surpass certain thresholds.
In a statement on Friday, President Joe Biden said he would use the new powers "the day I sign the bill into law."
He said: **"**Let's be clear. What's been negotiated would—if passed into law—be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we've ever had in our country.
"It would give me, as president, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law."
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