Republican Sheriff Candidate Talks Immigration With Tulsa Hispanic Community

Tulsa County sheriff candidate, Vic Regalado, won’t go after the undocumented if he’s elected next month.

Friday, the Republican candidate took questions from a Hispanic audience and explained his stance on immigration.

"I will abide by the law. I am compassionate about all communities, not just the Hispanic community," Regalado said.

He reiterated that he will not go after undocumented people in Tulsa County, but will uphold 287(g).

He, a Mexican-American himself, explained the program applies only to inmates in the jail, saying an undocumented inmate will be interviewed, fingerprinted and possibly deported if he or she has a criminal history.

He also asked the Hispanic community to report racial profiling.

One woman said, more than two years ago, her husband was a victim of racial profiling when a deputy arrested him.

"No, I would not support actively going out or pulling people over based on their race," Regalado said.

Many in the room said as long as he supports 287(g), they will not support him; but that didn't deter Regalado from continuing to answer their questions.

"It's things like this that I'm going to have to come to and sit in front of people, and sometimes it won't be comfortable, but that's part of it," the Republican sheriff candidate said.

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Our News On 6, The Frontier investigation found some Tulsa police officers pay supervisors to retire early to assume their positions, and Regalado admitted he is an officer who did that.

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Friday night, after previously asking him for more details about that transaction, we asked him again. He said, “Allison, the gotcha questions should be for another time. Right now, this is about the people and serving the community, so I will leave it at that."