The law was enjoined last year pursuant to a request from the United States.
Oklahoma has been temporarily restrained from enforcing H.B. 4156.
OKLAHOMA CITY – In a victory for immigrants’ rights, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma granted a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of Oklahoma’s HB 4156. This harmful law would create a state system to regulate immigration that undermines the exclusively federal system Congress enacted. The court’s order reaffirms its prior ruling that HB 4156 is likely unconstitutional and prevents Oklahoma officials from enforcing HB 4156 for the next 14 days. The court’s order also provisionally certifies a statewide class of plaintiffs subject to the law, and permits individual plaintiffs to proceed anonymously due to the risk of retaliation from federal authorities.
The American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Oklahoma, and law firm Rivas & Associates previously filed a lawsuit in May of 2024 on behalf of the Oklahoma-based organization Padres Unidos de Tulsa and several individual plaintiffs who live in the state. With the onset of the Trump administration, the United States government dismissed the challenge last year.
Civil rights groups filed an amended lawsuit in mid-May of 2025 with additional plaintiffs, including the League of United Latin American Citizens Oklahoma City (“LULAC-OKC”), and asked the court to temporarily block enforcement of HB 4156 during the pendency of the case.
Tamya Cox-Touré, executive director for the ACLU of Oklahoma: “The court’s decision today is a victory for Oklahoma’s immigrant community, but the damage of HB 4156 and the national rhetoric repeated by local politicians has already created an environment of fear in our state. No matter what someone looks like, sounds like, or what their immigration status may be, they should feel safe in their own communities. We will continue to fight for the rights and dignity of immigrants and their families.”
Noor Zafar, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project: “HB 4156 puts immigrants in Oklahoma at tremendous risk, and we are grateful that the court has reaffirmed that the law is unconstitutional and temporarily blocked its implementation. ”
Lorena Rivas, an attorney with the Tulsa-based law firm Rivas & Associates: “We were confident in the success of our requests, and we are so grateful to our plaintiffs who were brave enough to be part of this fight against the law.”
Today’s court order is the first step in the process to permanently block HB 4156, which usurps federal control over immigration law by subjecting certain groups of noncitizens to arrest and prosecution who have a federal right to remain here.