The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation terminated a staff attorney who urged Americans to make ICE agents' lives "miserable", a firing that came after the state's attorney general publicly called for her resignation.
Shannon Desherow, an assistant general counsel at OSBI, lost her job following an internal investigation triggered by a TikTok video in which she declared she would refuse to comply with federal immigration agents and encouraged other citizens to do the same. The agency confirmed the termination to Fox News Digital on Friday, saying only that the investigation had concluded and that Desherow was out.
"Once we were made aware of her social media post, we opened an internal investigation," an OSBI spokesperson said. "Upon completion of the internal investigation, she was terminated." The agency declined further comment, calling it a personnel matter.
The video that ended Desherow's career featured her mocking conservatives and laying out what she framed as a legal case for resisting ICE. In it, she dismissed the idea of cooperating with federal immigration enforcement and used repeated profanity to make her point.
Desherow told viewers that "ICE has no authority and no jurisdiction over U.S. citizens," then added:
"So why the f--- would I comply with an order given to me at gunpoint by somebody who has no f---ing authority to make that order? I'm not going to. That's the f---ing thing."
She went further, calling on every citizen to adopt the same posture toward federal immigration officers.
"We need to make their lives f---ing miserable, and that's exactly what we should be doing."
Desherow also claimed that ICE warrants are administrative "99% of the time" and therefore insufficient under the Fourth Amendment to grant access to a home, a car, or to authorize an arrest of a citizen. She held herself out as a legal authority on the subject, she was, after all, a licensed attorney drawing a state paycheck from a law enforcement agency.
The social media account Libs of TikTok reshared the video on July 9, bringing it to wide attention. OSBI opened its investigation shortly after. Fox News Digital had previously reported that Desherow was under review, and the state's response escalated quickly from there.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond's office publicly called for Desherow's resignation before the investigation concluded, saying her comments "do not reflect the values of Oklahomans."
"Anyone in Oklahoma law enforcement who feels so passionately against our federal partners should resign."
The Department of Homeland Security also weighed in, issuing a pointed warning. A DHS spokesperson said that "obstruction of law enforcement is a federal crime and a felony," adding that "the First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly, not rioting." The statement drew a clear line between protected opinion and the kind of active resistance Desherow appeared to advocate.
The broader pattern of public officials and political figures coaching resistance to federal immigration enforcement has drawn increasing scrutiny from the administration and its allies. Desherow's case stands out because she was not an activist or an elected progressive in a sanctuary city. She was a lawyer employed by a state criminal investigative agency, the kind of institution that routinely cooperates with federal law enforcement.
The anti-ICE video was not the only incendiary content on Desherow's TikTok page. Libs of TikTok also surfaced posts she made about Charlie Kirk, the Turning Point USA founder who was fatally shot at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025.
In those videos, Desherow said Kirk "inherited the society that he helped create" and accused him and other conservative commentators of preaching "stochastic violence endlessly." She then said they "whine and cry when they're the victim of their own f---ing violent rhetoric."
A pinned video on her TikTok page addressed the election of Zohran Mamdani and took aim at conservatives concerned about the result. "You guys love Sharia law, you love fundamentalist extremism when White people are implementing it," she said. Her TikTok bio included a Palestinian flag emoji and described her as a "leftist in a red state," with a disclaimer that her views were "entirely my own and not representative of my employer."
That disclaimer did not save her job. When you hold a law license and a title like assistant general counsel at a state law enforcement bureau, a TikTok bio caveat does not erase the professional conflict. The question is not whether Desherow had the right to hold political opinions. The question is whether a state law enforcement attorney can publicly urge citizens to obstruct federal agents and keep drawing a government paycheck. OSBI answered that question.
Desherow earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Central Oklahoma in December 2016 and her law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2020. At the time the article was published, her LinkedIn page still listed her as working for OSBI. Her TikTok page, which had briefly gone private, appeared to be public again.
The Trump administration has moved aggressively to remove government officials who work against the administration's enforcement priorities, and state agencies in red states have shown a willingness to follow suit. Oklahoma's decision to fire Desherow rather than quietly reassign her sends an unmistakable signal about where the state stands on cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
Fox News Digital attempted to reach Desherow for comment and also contacted ICE. The article did not indicate that either party responded. OSBI's spokesperson offered the three-sentence statement confirming the investigation and termination, then shut the door.
Several open questions remain. OSBI did not specify which conduct rule or policy Desherow violated, and the agency gave no indication whether she was placed on leave during the investigation or remained on duty until the end. The tight-lipped response is standard for personnel matters, but it leaves the public without a clear picture of the specific grounds for termination.
Political figures on both sides of the aisle have faced consequences for breaking sharply with institutional expectations. Senator John Fetterman, for instance, has drawn fire from his own party for mocking Democratic orthodoxy on a range of issues. But Desherow's case is different in kind. Fetterman is an elected official voicing heterodox opinions. Desherow was a state employee in a law enforcement agency actively encouraging citizens to resist the lawful operations of a sister federal agency.
The fallout from high-profile government personnel decisions has become a recurring feature of the current political landscape. Even figures as prominent as former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have faced dramatic personal and professional consequences tied to public scrutiny. For a mid-level state attorney in Oklahoma, the margin for error was always going to be smaller.
Desherow told her TikTok audience she was born here, she knows her rights, and she would make it an ICE agent's problem. Oklahoma made it hers instead.
