Tulsa County Sheriff addresses increase in immigration detentions: Here's how it's affecting Tulsa County Jail

Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado highlights rising immigration detentions and overtime costs at the jail, expecting relief from ongoing contract negotiations with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Wednesday, April 23rd 2025, 5:18 pm

By: Emory Bryan

TULSA, Okla. -

Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado says an increasing number of immigration detentions at the Tulsa County Jail is increasing overtime costs, but he expects relief soon during ongoing contract talks with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Tulsa County Jail contracts with ICE to hold detainees from other areas, in addition to local people arrested and held for ICE proceedings later.

"And once your local charges have gone through court, or been dropped or whatever, you're still detained to face immigration court and possible deportation," said Regalado.

Overtime Costs At Tulsa County Jail

The Sheriff said the overtime issue was mainly due to scheduling, and ICE arriving with more people than expected, requiring more jail staff to process them.

"The Federal Government is enforcing illegal immigration at a high rate, and so space is a commodity, and we have space for that in Oklahoma. We get them from Oklahoma, Dallas, and we hold them for 72 hours, and they're moved," he said.

Sheriff's Office Major Marcus Berry said an ongoing computer issue at the jail was limiting the ability to break down some statistics on the population, but from a recent baseline of 1,279 inmates, "This morning our current count was 1565, and that's all due to the ICE increase," said Berry.

The Oklahoma County Department of Corrections has 79 ICE detainers on file as of November 1 of 2024, and 99 as of April 23, 2025. They say they do not have a contract with ICE and do not hold people specifically for them.

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Emory Bryan

Emory Bryan is a general assignment reporter for News On 6. He began his news career covering the school board for his hometown radio station and worked on the newspaper staff in college before making the switch to television. Emory Bryan joined the News On 6 team in 1994.