Oklahoma GOP: No plan to hold meetings to sanction Lankford over border bill

(The Center Square) - The chairman of the Oklahoma GOP said the organization has no plans to hold a meeting to sanction U.S. Sen. James Lankford days after a letter was posted on social media saying the GOP did so already.

Lankford is negotiating a bipartisan bill to address the border crisis.

Oklahoma State Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, posted a resolution on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter condemning Lankford's negotiations.

"Senator Lankford playing fast and loose with Democrats on our border policy disenfranchises legal immigrants seeking citizenships, but it also puts the safety and security of Americans in great danger," the resolution said. "Be it resolved that until Senator Lankford ceases from these actions the Oklahoma Republican Party will cease all support from him."

The resolution said the GOP chairman would publish it.

But that's not the case, GOP Chairman Stan Stevens said in an email to The Center Square.

"There are no plans at this time to hold any official OKGOP meetings to sanction Senator Lankford. Our position is that the meeting held Saturday under our banner was improperly called and therefore illegitimate and we disavow the actions they took," Stevens said. "At present, there is no bill or language for us to respond to, only that the senator is engaged in negotiations in an attempt to curtail illegal immigration into the United States, and therefore, we will await the outcome of those efforts before taking a position concerning any eventual bill or the senator’s positions."

Lankford said on CBS' Face the Nation on Sunday that there was a lot of misinformation about the bill. The negotiators are still working on the final aspects, he said. The bill contains some things former presidents have asked for in the past, Lankford said.

President Joe Biden said in a statement last week he would sign the bill.

"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," Biden said in a statement. "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."

Former President Donald Trump is encouraging Republicans to vote against the bill.

"They are using this horrific Senate Bill as a way of being able to put the BORDER DISASTER onto the shoulders of the Republicans," Trump said on the social media site Truth Social. "The Democrats BROKE THE BORDER, they should fix it. NO LEGISLATION IS NEEDED, IT’S ALREADY THERE!!!"