In 2025, we ranked fifth nationally in immigrant apprehensions per capita, and our immigration detainees were among the least likely to find legal representation.[i] This may come as a surprise because, up to this point, Oklahoma has not been subject to the “shock and awe” deployments carried out in cities like Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Chicago, with mobs of masked agents arresting people en masse.[ii] Oklahoma has not seen ICE enforcement accompanied by smoke grenades, chemical munitions, or community members sounding whistles to warn of ICE's presence.[iii] While we are grateful that our cities have not been invaded in the same way as in other states, Oklahoma has not been insulated from the Department of Homeland Security’s worst excesses.
Make no mistake about it: ICE is here, it’s just moving in the shadows. Due to extensive cooperation between local law enforcement and federal agencies, there is little need for the “shock and awe” tactics deployed in other major American cities.[iv] Folks are being quietly arrested on their way to work, outside immigration court, or during ICE check-ins.[v] Routine traffic stops and arrests for minor crimes can result in our neighbors being whisked away, disappeared without a trace.[vi]
The rise in immigration enforcement has overwhelmed court dockets, especially in the Western District of Oklahoma. With limited relief from immigration judges, detainees are increasingly turning to federal courts by filing writs of “habeas corpus,” which permit release from custody if detention violates “the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States.”[vii] Since the start of the second Trump administration, the Western District has handled over 800 habeas cases, averaging over one new claim per day since January 20, 2025.[viii] Unfortunately, these numbers are likely to continue climbing.[ix]
The dire situation described above is not unique to Oklahoma. Federal courts nationwide are struggling to process the unprecedented surge in habeas corpus claims.[x] And the courts are not alone in their inability to manage swelling detention populations: the Department of Homeland Security lacks the resources to operate its facilities in a manner consistent with its legal obligations. For example, facilities in Oklahoma appeared to open without first creating adequate infrastructure for attorney visits, meaning detainees were initially held incommunicado for weeks on end.[xi] Detainees in California have complained of unsanitary conditions, refusal to provide timely medical care, and rampant use of solitary confinement.[xii] Pregnant detainees in Louisiana and Georgia have reported prolonged shackling, delayed and substandard prenatal care, and insufficient food and water.[xiii] These claims of horrifying conditions seem to be the norm, rather than the exception.[xiv] Immigration detainees are suffering, and there does not appear to be an end in sight.
What You Can Do to Help
We are seeking attorneys admitted or eligible for admission to practice in the Western District of Oklahoma to file and litigate habeas claims on behalf of detained immigrants, with the goal of obtaining release on bond. The Immigration and Nationality Act does not provide court-appointed counsel, so detained immigrants must find their own legal representation. Unlike other states, Oklahoma lacks pro-bono direct service providers to help shoulder the load. As a result, habeas petitioners in Oklahoma must either pay for private counsel or represent themselves. Our family, friends, and neighbors desperately need our help.
Taking on pro bono habeas cases serves several important interests. First, habeas relief gives immigrant detainees the best possible chance to remain in the United States. Empirical studies have shown that when detained immigrants secure legal representation, they are more likely to obtain release on bond as their immigration proceedings unfold.[xv]Once released from detention, immigrants have a much better chance at ultimately prevailing in their immigration cases.[xvi] Second, habeas relief alleviates the suffering caused by immigration detention. Release on bond ensures that our neighbors do not languish in the deplorable conditions highlighted above, which often discourage noncitizens from litigating otherwise meritorious immigration claims.[xvii] Third and finally, habeas relief serves as an essential check on executive power. Habeas is a bedrock principle of constitutional democracy and has been the vehicle for several landmark legal victories in the immigrants’ rights space, particularly since the turn of the 20th Century.[xviii] If you are an attorney looking to join the civil rights fight, habeas litigation is your battlefield.
How to Get Involved
Interested attorneys should contact Travis Handler at intake@acluok.org. We will add your name, email address, and phone number to an internal spreadsheet of available pro bono counsel. That list will, in turn, be shared with law firms that are unable to take certain habeas cases due to limited capacity or the individual’s inability to pay. We also hope to eventually get this information posted inside Oklahoma’s immigration detention facilities.
Resources That We Will Provide
For the time being, please note that the asserted grounds for relief in our resources are limited to unlawful mandatory detention based on the Trump administration’s novel interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act and indefinite detention in violation of Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678 (2001). Please also note that representation in habeas litigation before the district court is not the same as litigation before the immigration courts, and that we are only asking you to take on the former, not the latter.
You can find our resources on the Immigration Habeas Initiative page of the ACLU of Oklahoma website. This page contains guidance and template documents to help you effectively represent habeas petitioners before the Western District of Oklahoma. Included are:
- A link to the New Mexico Habeas Project, which provides a free online course with guidance on how to litigate a habeas case;
- A Master Sheet reference guide that identifies which resources and template documents are the most helpful at various stages of the habeas case;
- A non-exhaustive habeas tracker which has documented outcomes before the different district court judges in the Western District of Oklahoma;
- Instructions for how to gain admission before the Western District of Oklahoma;
- Briefing from the ACLU’s mandatory detention case before the Tenth Circuit;
- Fillable, template habeas petitions that can be tailored to the facts of your case;
- Sample habeas petitions;
- A pre-filing checklist for initiating the case;
- Instructions for how to set up visits with clients at various facilities and a comprehensive intake form; and
- Other helpful guidance documents and templates.
If you think you are interested in taking on some of these cases, please contact Travis Handler at intake@acluok.org. Additionally, if you are a private immigration practitioner and would like our list of potential pro bono habeas counsel, please contact us at intake@acluok.org. We are happy to answer any questions about what this process might look like and how you can best support our work.
Disclaimer
The information and guidance provided by the ACLU of Oklahoma does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. All information, content, and materials available on this site are for general informational purposes only. Information on this website may not constitute the most up-to-date legal or other information.
[i] Todd Pendleton, ICE Ramped Up Deportations in 2025. How Many Were in Oklahoma?, The Oklahoman (Jan. 21, 2026), https://www.oklahoman.com/story/opinion/2026/01/21/ice-in-oklahoma-deportations-skyrockted-in-2025/88268623007/; Lionel Ramos, As Detentions Climb in Oklahoma, Migrants With Pending Immigration Cases Struggle to Get Legal Help, KOSU (Jan. 14, 2026), https://www.kosu.org/politics/2026-01-14/as-detentions-climb-in-oklahoma-migrants-with-pending-immigration-cases-struggle-to-get-legal-help.
[ii] See, e.g., Rebecca Santana & Michael Balsamo, 2,000 Federal Agents Sent to Minneapolis Area to Carry Out ‘Largest Immigration Operation Ever,’ ICE Says, PBS News (Jan. 6, 2026), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/2000-federal-agents-sent-to-minneapolis-area-to-carry-out-largest-immigration-operation-ever-ice-says.
[iii] Graham Hurley, Blood. Pain. Disorientation. Here’s What Protesters Say ‘Less-Lethal’ Weapons Feel Like, CNN(Jan. 23, 2026), https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/20/us/protestors-tear-gas-pepper-balls.
[iv] These cooperative agreements are colloquially known as “287(g) agreements.” These agreements deputize local law enforcement to carry out select immigration activities on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security and have been a primary source of targeted enforcement activities in Oklahoma. See, e.g., Robert Hagan, Operation Guardian Sparks Fear and Controversy in Oklahoma Communities, Fox 25 (Jan. 14, 2026), https://okcfox.com/news/local/operation-guardian-sparks-fear-and-controversy-in-oklahoma-communities; Camree Bennett-Cox & Travis Handler, 287(g) in Oklahoma: How Local Police Become Immigration Enforcers, ACLU of Oklahoma (May 4, 2026), https://www.acluok.org/news/287g-in-oklahoma-how-local-police-become-immigration-enforcers/.
[v] Bennett-Cox & Handler, supra note 5 (arrests arising from routine interactions with law enforcement); Chantelle Navarro, Oklahoma Deportations Surge in 2025, With Rising Cases Involving Residents From Asian Countries, Koco News 5 (Mar. 3, 2026), https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-deportations-surge-rising-cases-asian-countries/70596087(arrests during ICE check-ins); Tim Henderson, ICE Has a New Courthouse Tactic: Get Immigrants’ Cases Tossed, Then Arrest Them Outside, Oklahoma Voice (Aug. 6, 2025), https://oklahomavoice.com/2025/08/06/ice-has-a-new-courthouse-tactic-get-immigrants-cases-tossed-then-arrest-them-outside/ (arrests outside immigration court).
[vi] See Diana Flores, How ICE’s Detention System Makes People Untraceable, Am. Friends Serv. Comm. (Dec. 30, 2025), https://afsc.org/news/how-ices-detention-system-makes-people-untraceable (describing a pattern of families being unable to locate loved ones in ICE detention due to lack of notice, failures to update the detainee locator, and withholding of basic information about detainees’ whereabouts).
[vii] 28 U.S.C.A. § 2241 (West). See also Ruth Talbot et al., Tracking Habeas Cases, ProPublica (last visited Apr. 27, 2026), https://projects.propublica.org/habeas-tracker/.
[viii] Talbot et al., supra note 8.
[ix] See Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, New Report Details ICE’s Expanding and Increasingly Unaccountable Detention System, Am. Immigr. Council (Jan. 23, 2026), https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ice-expanding-detention-system/ (detailing that ICE has funding for operations through fiscal year 2029).
[x] Talbot et al., supra note 8 (over 40,000 habeas corpus claims filed since January 2025).
[xi] Maria Guinnip, Local Attorneys Struggle to Contact Clients in Watonga ICE Facility, The Oklahoman (Mar. 3, 2026), https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/politics/government/2026/03/03/immigration-law-attorney-okc-ice-detainees-struggle-contact-lawyers-watonga-ok/88830217007/; Ben Fenwick, Inside the ICE Detention System: How Oklahoma Facilities Use Legal Limbo to Pressure Deportations, Public Radio Tulsa (Feb. 12, 2026), https://www.publicradiotulsa.org/local-regional/2026-02-12/inside-the-ice-detention-system-how-oklahoma-facilities-use-legal-limbo-to-pressure-deportations.
[xii] Kyle Virgien, Immigrants Sue Trump Administration Over Inhumane Conditions at California’s Largest Immigration Detention Center, ACLU (Nov. 13, 2025), https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/immigrants-sue-trump-administration-over-inhumane-conditions-at-californias-largest-immigration-detention-center.
[xiii] ACLU, Partners Demand ICE Release Pregnant and Postpartum People From ICE Detention, ACLU (Oct. 22, 2025), https://www.aclu.org/documents/aclu-partners-demand-ice-release-pregnant-and-postpartum-people-from-ice-detention.
[xiv] See Alina Das, The Law and Lawlessness of U.S. Immigration Detention, 138 Harv. L. Rev. 1186, 1189 (2025) (“Yet the U.S. immigration detention system has become notorious for unsanitary conditions, inedible food, excessive use of force, racialized abuse, medical neglect, and preventable death.”).
[xv] Jocelyn Dyer, A Federal Defender System for Immigrants Is Long Overdue, Am. Immigr. Council (Feb. 26, 2021), https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/immigrants-need-federal-defender-system/.
[xvi] What Happens When Individuals Are Released on Bond in Immigration Court Proceedings?, TRAC Immigration(Sept. 14, 2016), https://tracreports.org/immigration/reports/438/#:~:text=Immigration%20Judge%20Decisions%20on%20Deportation,in%20their%20Immigration%20Court%20cases. (“During FY 2015, for example, two out of every three individuals (68%) released after the judge granted bond ultimately prevailed in their Immigration Court proceeding.”). See also Immigration Bond Hearings, OpenImmigration, https://www.openimmigration.us/bond?utm_source=chatgpt.com (last visited Apr. 15, 2026) (“Studies consistently show that detained respondents are less likely to find lawyers, less able to gather evidence, and more likely to accept deportation simply to end their detention.”); Detaining Families: A Study of Asylum Adjudication in Family Detention, Am. Immigr. Council (Aug. 16, 2018), https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/detaining-families-a-study-of-asylum-adjudication-in-family-detention/ (describing barriers faced by detained families seeking asylum).
[xvii] See, e.g., David Bacon, Why Lelo Juarez Chose Self-Deportation, The Progressive Mag. (Aug. 11, 2025), https://progressive.org/latest/why-lelo-juarez-chose-self-deportation-bacon-20250811/; Report: Immigration Detention Is Bigger, Harsher, and Less Accountable Than Ever, Am. Immigr. Council (Jan. 14, 2026), https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/press-release/report-trump-immigration-detention-2026/ (“Rather than addressing serious public safety threats, the government is spending billions on mass detention to pressure people who pose no threat to give up their cases and accept deportation.”).
[xviii] See, e.g., Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678 (2001) (immigration detainees may not be subjected to prolonged, indefinite detention after receiving final orders of removal); Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723 (2008) (noncitizens detained as enemies of war entitled to habeas corpus relief); A. A. R. P. v. Trump, 605 U.S. 91 (2025) (immigration detainees entitled to habeas corpus relief because President Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act did not comply with procedural due process).
