Oklahoma illegal immigrant inmates to be deported

Nearly two dozen illegal immigrants who were convicted in Oklahoma courts will be released from a state prison on Thursday and turned over to federal agents for deportation — even though some may have served only a third of their sentence, corrections officials confirmed Wednesday.

The 22 inmates mark the largest group scheduled to be deported under a new state law intended to save money. It allows the release of illegal immigrants who are deemed nonviolent offenders and have served at least one-third of their prison sentence.

The law was modeled after one in Arizona. New York, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico have similar programs.

"Essentially, it is shifting the cost of incarcerating illegal aliens from the state taxpayers back to the federal government where it belongs," said state Rep. Randy Terrill, who sponsored the bill. "We have illegal aliens in our state committing crimes against our citizens, when they shouldn't even be here in the first place."

Most of the inmates to be removed Thursday are from Mexico. They range in age from 20 to 61, and most were convicted of drug crimes. One of the inmates has a previous conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and two have convictions for indecent exposure, according to prison records and a list provided by the Department of Corrections.

Some Hispanic advocates said the law is an example of illegal immigrants being an easy political target because the deportation won't prevent them from coming back to the U.

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