The Conservative Republican ruler of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, and the Conservative Democratic Republic of Democratic Schools, appeared to be on their shoulder on the shoulder during the years of Donald J. Trump, with the former sending the Oklahoma guards to the south.
But when the inspector, Ryan Walters, suggested finding students without documents in Oklahoma schools, Mr Stitt said enough.
“When I saw them taking the kids, I thought this was a step too far,” Mr Stitt said in a recent interview with his office in the state Capitol.
At a time of anything that goes policy on the right of the nation, the struggle in Oklahoma may indicate that there is an external limit on what is acceptable, even for the conservatives. Or it could offer a preview of the next borders in the battle of the nation for immigration.
“It is incredibly unfortunate that the commander has decided to undermine President Trump’s immigration agenda and take these types of swipes to him,” Mr Walters said. “He attacks President Trump.”
It began when Mr Walters, the elected inspector of state schools, proposed new rules that would require Oklahoma public schools to collect citizenship information from students. The proposed rules were approved by the State School Council in January and are now considered by the Oklahoma legislative body.
But Mr Stitt was not soft for immigration, he burst immediately. He soon called replacements at the School Council, whose members are appointed by the governor’s audits, so he could better resist the proposals by the head of the schools.
Mr Stitt has been a strong border security supporter, sending troops to help patrol the Texas border and invest to support Mr Trump’s deportation efforts. But after children after school, Mr Stitt said Mr Walters – a former tutor of high school history, who was once protected by the Governor – crossed a line.
“I have never heard Trump speak,” Hi, we will go after children, “Mr Stitt said.
Mr Stitt, who is in his final term as a ruler, said he had spoken to Mr Walters and tried to speak from it. “You’re just trying to make a political statement, trying to get your name on paper,” Mr Stitt said he told him. “That’s why people hate politicians.”
Mr Walters, who has been reported as a potential candidate for governor next year, has not been waving.
In his office in the state education building, he argued in an interview that his approach was closely aligned with the push of Mr Trump’s policies, such as the termination of automatic citizenship for almost every person born on American territory and allowing federal migrators. An attack on the nationality proposal, he said, was similar to an attack on the president.
Mr Walters’ goals look contradictory. The collection of data on the number of immigrant students in Oklahoma schools would help to provide language services, he said. But he also said that he wants to better calculate the cost of students without documents to keep taxpayers.
“My concern is the taxpayers, the citizens of the country and the Oklahoma,” he said. “These are the people who are legally here, who voted in the elections, who need to be protected.”
His office estimates that about 5,000 migratory students attend government public schools, at a cost of about $ 200 million a year.
Accounts in various state laws, including Texas and New Jersey, Mr Walters’ efforts, as they seek to allow schools to collect tuition from migration students.
This legislation, which would probably be disputed in court, appeared to be aimed at questioning the core of a US Supreme Court in 1982 that these states could not prevent children from attending public schools without documents. This ruling has been a goal of some Republicans in recent years, especially as the power of power in the Supreme Court has shifted to the Conservatives.
Mr Walters said he favored the overthrow of the previous one. Mr Stitt said he didn’t.
Jackson Lahmeyer, Pastor at Tulsa, Okla., And a member of the newly entrants of the White House of Trump’s White House, said that he liked both the governor and the school inspector, but they looked like Mr Walters for collecting data.
“This is the agenda of the president who won,” said Lahmeyer, whose church has attracted members of the family and administration of Mr Trump. “We need to know if students are American citizens or if they are not.”
The governor said he did not oppose the enforcement of the law on immigration, but was worried that parents without documents would possibly hold their children at home, rather than forced to reveal the immigration regime.
“The kids did nothing wrong. It’s my point,” he said.
Mr Stitt, a businessman of the mortgage company, who was first elected in 2018, suggested that a better solution included the determination of the immigration system-an idea heard behind George W. Bush-so that companies who want to grant foreign workers.
The proposal of Oklahoma’s citizenship must continue to be taken into account by the legislative before the commander has the opportunity to officially exclude it.
In particular, Republicans in the Legislative have gained the measure, said Tyler Powell, a democratic political adviser to Oklahoma. Publicly, they have mostly avoided hitting. The leaders of the state and the Senate did not respond to requests for comments.
Mr Powell said the shift of Republican Republicans in 2024 is worried about the wrath of Mr Walters, who is popular on the basic democratic basis of the state.
“Everyone has a little fear of Walters,” he said. “Behind the scenes have ensured that Walters’ policies do not pass, but they do not want to go out and walk a board with their voters.”
Mr Walters has gained attention at national level for his efforts to introduce the conservative teaching of religious and Trump in public schools, gathering praise from religious conservatives and those who are strongly aligned with Mr Trump. He has moved to buy bibles for public schools, create a religious charter school and change the state curriculum to teach the “divergences” in the 2020 elections, among others.
“My point is that Walters should stop trying to get the president’s attention and do his job,” said Mark McBride, a former Republican member of the Oklahoma State Corps, worked on education. “I hope that Stitt ruler will continue to return to the inspector.”
Mr Stitt came in to replace three members of the State Education Council in February with new members who will be aligned with him. He said in the interview that he would soon add a quarter to fill a vacancy, giving him a majority to the board.
Kendra Wesson, an education activist, was one of the members of the Board of Directors who voted for the nationality proposal and replaced by Mr Stitt. He said that the actual text of the rule – which included the collection of overall data – was misled by supporters.
“There is nothing in the rule for the transition from children,” he said, adding that we are going to help schools and teachers educate students who arrived by speaking different languages. “I feel it is so important to make resources to them.”
Mrs Wesson said that when the commander invited her to tell her that she would replace her with the Board of Directors, she offered her a position to another council. But, he said, he came with an “ultimatum to publicly reject Ryan Walters”.
A governor’s spokesman said Ms Wesson was never asked to reject Mr Walters. Nevertheless, he is now serving in an Education Advisory Committee – started by Mr Walters.
