Kansas
Immigrants face new reality and old fears under a Kansas law banning ‘sanctuary’ cities – Kansas Reflector
![Immigrants face new reality and old fears under a Kansas law banning ‘sanctuary’ cities – Kansas Reflector Immigrants face new reality and old fears under a Kansas law banning ‘sanctuary’ cities – Kansas Reflector](https://kansasreflector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/image_157478385-rotated.jpg)
TOPEKA — Alejandro Rangel-Lopez says concern is a given in a mixed-status family.
Rising up in Dodge Metropolis with an undocumented dad or mum, Rangel-Lopez continuously feared his father coming residence with information that immigration brokers had detained his mom.
And he says concern of deportation stored his mom from reporting an abusive ex-husband who fled with their two oldest youngsters to Mexico in 2001.
“That’s what delayed her justice and value her the fitting to see my two older siblings develop up,” Rangel-Lopez stated. “She couldn’t see them till she obtained her inexperienced card this yr, 21 years later.”
The concern of legislation enforcement or different authorities authorities that many immigrants expertise is corrosive to a neighborhood, stated Rangel-Lopez, the lead coordinator for New Frontiers Challenge, a southwest Kansas group working to civically empower individuals of shade. And that’s why the 21-year-old College of Kansas pupil helps metropolis ordinances just like the short-lived Protected and Welcoming Act in Wyandotte County that restrict or prohibit how a lot metropolis officers can cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The coverage additionally offered immigrants a municipal identification card with out concern of knowledge going to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. However a brand new state legislation handed with haste earlier this yr in response to the Wyandotte County ordinance.
Immigrants are reeling from the legislation and the far reaching results it might have on their communities, even past these with welcoming ordinances. With a rising immigrant inhabitants, advocates warn of financial and prison fallout from the legislative motion.
The legislation prohibits native governments from taking motion to stop legislation enforcement from working with federal immigration authorities. Municipality ID playing cards are invalid when used as a substitute of state identification for functions like voter ID.
The state legislation undercuts not solely the Wyandotte County ordinance however comparable ones in Lawrence and Roeland Park. Immigration advocates say the legislation can have a chilling impact on the state’s financial system and create a number of authorized dilemmas.
A coalition of Wyandotte County organizations, together with the mayor of Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, urged Gov. Laura Kelly to reject the measure. However in signing the legislation, Kelly stated immigration reform “can’t be resolved on the municipal stage” and that the duty to handle a “damaged” system “rests with Congress.”
Judy Ancel, president of the Cross Border Community, a Kansas Metropolis group that helps employees throughout borders and who cross borders, acknowledged the invoice had sufficient assist within the Legislature to override a veto, however stated the governor’s motion despatched the incorrect message to her immigrant supporters, lots of whom are law-abiding residents.
Knowledge compiled from 2011 to 2019 by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas exhibits greater than 4,000 individuals arrested or eliminated by ICE throughout that point, lots of whom haven’t been convicted of a criminal offense. Throughout that point, the state’s inhabitants grew by greater than 60,000 — pushed predominantly by immigrants, in keeping with the ACLU knowledge.
ICE detainers aren’t arrest warrants, and immigration legislation is civil, not prison, Ancel stated.
“What (the brand new state legislation) says is that Kansas is de facto ignorant and backward,” Ancel stated. “To households who is perhaps pondering of shifting right here, who could or could not have undocumented individuals however who’re immigrants, it says Kansas is unsafe and unwelcome to immigrant labor.”
A budding effort
Ancel was among the many individuals who spent years working to move the Protected and Welcoming Act in Wyandotte County.
For Ancel, the hassle started in 2007 however didn’t be a magnet for the native authorities till about 5 years in the past. Since then, Ancel and a coalition of neighborhood organizations knocked on doorways and labored to create an ordinance they stated would guarantee a extra cohesive neighborhood.
Lastly, in February, Wyandotte County commissioners accredited the ordinance.
“Lots of people in Wyandotte County had been set to learn from it once we handed it,” Ancel stated. “Hopes had been raised.”
In response to Protected and Welcoming Wyandotte, as many as 30,000 individuals in Wyandotte County have issue accessing a government-issued ID card. That’s roughly 1 in 5 individuals who dwell within the county, together with foster youngsters, immigrants, individuals with out housing and the aged.
Yazmin Bruno Valdez, a neighborhood organizer for Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, stated with the legislation in place and the data doubtlessly liable for use in different methods, she is advising towards the ID.
Valdez, 21, is an immigrant, a DACA recipient, and lived with out identification for greater than 20 years. She says missing an ID made her really feel like she was not a part of society and stored her from doing most of the issues she needed to do.
She was even denied entrance at first to her senior promenade as a result of she didn’t have a driver’s license or state-issued ID. Protected and Welcoming was a chance to incorporate a neighborhood working laborious however usually unseen, Valdez stated.
“To show again round a month later and inform those self same those who these protections we promised, that you just labored laborious for, had been ripped away due to a legislation that handed in lower than a month,” Valdez stated. “It should utterly change individuals’s lives — I can assure that.”
The legislation permits the lawyer common, a county or district lawyer to deliver a court docket motion to compel a municipality or individual to adjust to provisions of the legislation.
Wyandotte County was not the primary native authorities to develop into a so-called “sanctuary metropolis.” Lawrence took the initiative in 2020, passing an ordinance that prohibits accumulating immigration-related info for individuals to entry metropolis companies and limiting native legislation enforcement’s cooperation with ICE brokers.
Mariel Ferreiro, co-founder and organizer with Sanctuary Alliance Lawrence, stated incidents involving immigration enforcement brokers driving up and down Iowa Road on the town, and finally detaining somebody, prompted a giant stir that began the dialog.
Then in January 2018, ICE brokers detained Syed Jamal in entrance of his residence as he was getting ready to take his youngsters to highschool. Jamal’s case turned a matter of worldwide curiosity amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants whose authorized standing within the nation was doubtful.
Jamal finally walked free, however the incident was sufficient to push the Lawrence neighborhood to enact a protecting ordinance for immigrants.
“It was this concept that every one residents and neighborhood members ought to have entry to metropolis sources and immigration not be one thing that’s a barrier to them,” Ferreiro stated. “Sadly, this (state legislation) positively put an enormous pause and now we’re form of attempting to determine what we are able to do.”
The brand new legislation additionally largely negates a Roeland Park ordinance that stated metropolis officers can decline to make use of funds or sources to assist federal immigration businesses or to share info on a person’s immigration standing. Police had been required to alert residents of any federal immigration enforcement motion inside 48 hours, besides in circumstances the place a criminal offense had occurred.
Yeni Telles stated this might fracture belief constructed between the immigrant neighborhood and legislation enforcement past japanese Kansas. Telles was born in Mexico however got here to the U.S. in 1999, finally shifting to Kansas to satisfy her dream of changing into a home-owner and graduating from a college.
“As a social employee working instantly with victims of crime, particularly victims of home violence, there may be already concern inside the immigrant neighborhood contacting legislation enforcement to report a criminal offense dedicated towards them,” Telles stated. “Immigrants aren’t strangers. They’re our neighbors, the household of our kids’s classmates, our coworkers.”
![Attorney General Derek Schmidt proposed the law banning "sanctuary" cities earlier this year, singling out the Wyandotte County ordinance as a particular concern. He was backed up by Republican lawmakers who approved the bill with a supermajority vote. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)](https://kansasreflector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Derek-Schmidt-with-cops-3-1024x768.jpg)
State officers backing the legislation
Whereas testimony offered to the Legislature on the legislation banning sanctuary jurisdictions was predominantly in opposition to the measure, a handful of elected state officers argued a patchwork of native ordinances offered a number of points.
Kansas Lawyer Normal Derek Schmidt proposed the laws in February, shortly after Wyandotte County accredited its act.
“Residents all through our state should know that wherever they could journey in Kansas, legislation enforcement officers are cooperating with federal and state businesses to pretty implement relevant legislation and aren’t obliged to show a blind eye to some illegal conduct merely due to native politics,” Schmidt stated in a press release upon submitting the invoice.
Testifying earlier than the Home Federal and State Affairs Committee, the Republican candidate for governor stated Kansas required such a legislation to make sure the complete state might be protected and welcoming to immigrants.
Bryan Caskey, the state election director, adopted Schmidt’s testimony and stated the Secretary of State’s workplace supported the invoice to make sure correct voting protocol.
“It’s the agency place of the Kansas Secretary of State that solely United States residents could vote in an election,” Caskey stated. “Requiring voter identification to forged a poll ensures the safety of voters’ rights and the integrity of the electoral course of.”
Opponents stated this was a misplaced concern as a result of immigrants would wish to register to vote, which solely residents can do, earlier than casting a poll.
At a current debate amongst Republican candidates for lawyer common, all three contributors agreed outlawing sanctuary cities was the perfect course for the state. Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach stated the laws didn’t go far sufficient.
“I suggest one that may take away all state cash from any metropolis or any firm that has a sanctuary coverage,” Kobach stated.
Authorized issues and confusion
Whereas Schmidt and Republican legislators argued completely different insurance policies in numerous elements of the state would create confusion, Genevra Alberti stated the brand new legislation is the true supply of uncertainty.
Alberti, the vice-chairwoman of the Missouri-Kansas Chapter of the American Immigration Legal professionals Affiliation, advised legislators throughout a listening to on the matter that immigration legislation is extremely difficult, even for individuals who observe it each day. She stated immigration legislation enforcement falls underneath the purview of the federal authorities, however the brand new state legislation would “deputize” any legislation enforcement officer to implement immigration legislation with out restrict or oversight.
Different elements of the invoice had been concerningly obscure, Alberti added in her testimony on the legislation. She stated nowhere within the legislation is it explicitly established what actions native jurisdictions are required or permitted to take.
“In impact, this laws permits, even encourages, any legislation enforcement individual or workplace to take any motion, it doesn’t matter what overreach, and prohibits any commonsense coverage or limitation from being positioned on any act construed to be ‘cooperation’ — simply as long as it, ostensibly, is expounded to immigration,” Alberti stated.
Alberti additionally stated the brand new state legislation strips Kansas communities of their proper to oversight of their police departments. Coordinating with ICE actions has ceaselessly been discovered to be unlawful and unconstitutional, leaving legislation enforcement weak to potential complaints and lawsuits.
A burden on enterprise throughout Kansas
The ripples of the invoice shall be felt in companies throughout Kansas, stated Martin Rosas, United Meals and Business Staff Union Native Two President.
Rosas, who additionally serves as vp of the UFCW Worldwide Union, testified throughout the legislature’s listening to on the invoice on behalf of greater than 11,000 employees within the food-supply business in Kansas. He stated the measure would influence agricultural and meals processing industries.
Rosas, citing a current evaluation of the American Group Survey, stated foreign-born employees make up 34.5% of the staff working within the meals processing business within the state and 25.6% of these work within the agricultural business.
“The latest public well being disaster is a proof of this assertion,” Rosas stated. “1000’s of immigrants, thought-about necessities to the state infrastructure, stood up by means of the pandemic to maintain the meals provide in all Kansas’ tables.”
In response to a current research on the consequences of sanctuary insurance policies, welcoming counties had median family incomes that had been $4,353 larger, 2.3% decrease poverty charges and 1.1% decrease unemployment charges.
“(The legislation) will make our state much less inclusive, much less affluent and fewer protected,” stated Caleb Smith of Kansas Appleseed. “Our state’s future and the well-being of our communities is at stake.”
![](https://kansasreflector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/FB_IMG_1653330036913-1024x576.jpg)
Trying towards the longer term
With the legislation enrolled, immigration reform advocates and stakeholders concerned in passing their metropolis or county sanctuary ordinances are asking: “What subsequent?”
Karla Juarez, govt director of the Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation, and a member of the Protected and Welcoming Wyandotte Coalition, stated the first step was to investigate what elements of their ordinance is perhaps salvageable. As well as, Juarez was hopeful there can be some form of statewide training initiative.
“So, specializing in the person and communities, give them the information about how that is going to have an effect on you as a result of there may be a number of concern mongering,” Juarez stated.
Juarez additionally agreed with the governor’s assertion that Congress ought to handle federal immigration. Sadly, she stated the legislation put neighborhood organizers in a decent spot the place making significant coverage modifications to guard immigrants was now in query.
Different members of the coalition echoed Kelly’s request for a trailer invoice to make sure people who depend on native authorities IDs to vote, like veterans, the aged and Kansans with disabilities, aren’t adversely affected.
To this point, no such invoice has been filed.
Ferreiro, of Sanctuary Alliance Lawrence, is methods to make sure laws like this doesn’t move sooner or later. For her, the easiest way to try this is to mobilize completely different communities to vote in droves.
“We noticed these shifts on a smaller stage. We noticed it in Lawrence. You noticed them in Roeland Park and in Wyandotte County,” Ferreiro stated. “What wouldn’t it seem like if we grew that, and we tried to try this statewide? May we shift the ability politically again to the individuals?”
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
Kansas
Kansas State players of the game vs UT-Martin
![Kansas State players of the game vs UT-Martin Kansas State players of the game vs UT-Martin](https://on3static.com/uploads/dev/assets/cms/2024/08/31201911/Tobi-UTM-1-1.jpeg)
Kansas State offensive MVP: DJ Giddens
It was another nice and easy day at the office for Kansas State running back DJ Giddens.
The Junction City running back went over 100 yards for the fifth consecutive game. His five game streak of going over the century mark is tied for fourth in K-State school history. Giddens finished the game with 124 rushing yards and added six receiving yards.
Dylan Edwards provided a nice spark for the Wildcat offense in his first game after transferring from Colorado. Edwards scored multiple times in the contest Saturday night with one on the ground and a receiving touchdown.
In the first home start for Avery Johnson, there were some ups and downs.
However, Johnson still finished with two touchdowns through the air and added some nice runs as well. Jayce Brown was a major bright spot receiving as well with 71 receiving yards. The true sophomore led Kansas State in receiving and had the most receptions with five.
Defensive MVP: Tobi Osunsanmi
For defense there was a few different options for MVP. I really wrestled back and forth between two.
Ultimately, I decided on Tobi Osunsanmi. The Wichita native was a man possessed in his snaps. He showed his elite burst and was able to get to the quarterback at a very high clip. Osunsanmi finished the game with 1.5 sacks (2.5 if he completes one instead of letting the quarterback escape).
He also added another quarterback hit to go along with the sacks.
Desmond Purnell was also flying around the field Saturday evening. He led K-State in tackles with seven and was tied for first in tackles for a loss with 1.5.
K-State special teams MVP: Ty Bowman
Anytime you can create a touchdown on special teams, it is an easy choice for special teams MVP. Ty Bowman blocked his second career punt in the season opener versus UT-Martin. The beneficiary of Bowman blocking the punt was Colby McCalister who returned the ball one yard for a touchdown.
Chris Tennant was also perfect on all of his kicks. Tennant knocked in a 45 and 43-yard field goal and was perfect on all of his extra points.
Kansas
Tulane Football’s Path to Victory Must Exploit Inexperienced Kansas State
![Tulane Football’s Path to Victory Must Exploit Inexperienced Kansas State Tulane Football’s Path to Victory Must Exploit Inexperienced Kansas State](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4096,h_2304,x_0,y_268/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/voltaxMediaLibrary/mmsport/tulane_green_wave_on_si/01j6mvw0vcfqn9xhqdjr.jpg)
The stage is set for Tulane football’s highly anticipated Week 2 matchup against the Kansas State Wildcats as they seek to become contenders on a national stage.
Intriguingly, the Green Wave and the Wildcats have some parallels on offense. Kansas State kicks off the season Saturday against FCS opponent UT-Martin, much like Tulane opened against Southeastern Louisiana.
Sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson will make his first regular season start, much like redshirt freshman Darian Mensah led Tulane to their 52-0 victory Thursday night. Johnson did appear in eight games as a true freshman and started for the team in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, beating North Carolina State.
However, he did so behind an offensive line that looks nothing like the one that will take the field next Saturday at Yulman Stadium. The Wildcats must replace four of five starters, including third-round draft pick Cooper Beebe. Just as Tulane had to find Vincent Murphy to take over for Sincere Haynesworth.
Though the group of returners isn’t exactly inexperienced, they don’t have any time playing together in concert. The lone starter remaining is right guard Hadley Panzer, who likely is starting this season at left guard. Presumed starting left tackle Easton Kilty is making his first FBS start.
It helps that Kansas State’s offensive line coach, Conor Riley, was promoted to coordinator. He has pieces to work with that have credible game snaps. The challenge is whether they can come together as a unit.
While Avery Johnson has more experience than Darian Mensah, Mensah benefits from a much more stable offensive line. Tulane returned both starting guards and right tackle and brought in key transfers to fill the remaining holes. In their season debut, they gave Mensah time in the pocket, but the run blocking left much to be desired.
Tulane brought in transfers on the defensive line to bolster their pass rush. They got to the quarterback twice with two sacks last Thursday, but the Bandit role was a point of concern. Their three-man front is spaced to spread out their top playmakers, Adin Huntington at defensive end and Patrick Jenkins at tackle.
With Huntington to the field and Jenkins to the boundary, it forces defenses to either focus attention on one side of the line or just shut down the best two players. That awards a lot of one-on-one opportunities for the rusher at Bandit. The players who rotated in the first game didn’t make much of a case.
Terrell Allen didn’t make any standout plays, nor did Matthew Fobbs-White, though the latter showed some disruptive abilities off the line of scrimmage. Frankly, Shi’Keem Laister was the most productive in a packaged role. Laister had a hurry and forced Southeastern to throw quickly, leading to incompletions on the drive.
Tulane doesn’t need the Bandit to be the hero, but they need a player to step up and credibly command attention to open up lanes for Huntington, who only recorded one hurry in his debut for the team.
Importantly, the team likely didn’t show their cards on the ways they might get to the quarterback. It might come from the second level. Linebacker Sam Howard had more pressure snaps than Fobbs-White and Allen, and he recorded a hurry and beat his blocker on another.
Could Tulane rely on blitzing and utilizing defensive backs and linebackers as rushers? Not all season. But creativity and confusion might just be enough to rattle the Wildcats as both teams race to figure out what the other is made of with merely one game of film.
The secondary came together as Tulane’s season opener went on, and should be a point of strength, but the best coverage is a pass rush. Especially with an opponent that has similar turnover and areas to exploit. For the Green Wave to pull off a victory on Sept. 7, the key lies in the lane to the quarterback.
Kansas
Lawmakers plan brazen power grab, pushing aside Kansas voters and Gov. Laura Kelly • Kansas Reflector
![Lawmakers plan brazen power grab, pushing aside Kansas voters and Gov. Laura Kelly • Kansas Reflector Lawmakers plan brazen power grab, pushing aside Kansas voters and Gov. Laura Kelly • Kansas Reflector](https://kansasreflector.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/P6170288.jpg)
Let’s be clear about what Kansas Republican legislative leaders are doing with their planned overhaul of budgeting: They are launching a personal and political power grab against Gov. Laura Kelly.
They have never accepted or respected her mandate. Despite Kelly winning a second term and having two years left to go, they have continually attempted to usurp the executive branch’s authority. They have tried a constitutional amendment and prohibiting her ability to negotiate Medicaid contracts. Now they’re going after her yearly state budget proposal.
Usually, the Legislature begins its yearly budget process with a proposal from the governor. Her office submits it when lawmakers arrive for the annual session, in January. Now an interim committee wants to start the process earlier, as soon as October of the previous year.
In this new process, the governor’s budget would be a suggestion, not a starting point.
And never mind that it’s a direct attack on Kelly. House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, assured the audience that these changes had nothing to do with the governor.
“This process has nothing to do with the governor,” he said at the meeting earlier this month, according to Kansas Reflector reporter Tim Carpenter. “If you’re going to focus on the governor, probably not the wisest thing to do, because this process has happened over time with many, many different governors.”
He was contradicted by Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, who let the proverbial cat out of the figurative bag.
“You’ll have a Republican governor, for example, or somebody you trust, and you trust the administration to build the budgets, and then you kind of rubber stamp stuff,” Masterson said. “And, then, you switch, and you have (the) opposition party and then there’s all that same power.”
Oh. So it’s like that, then.
All of this might seem like so much partisan mud wrestling, except for the fact that the leaders have also decided to do an end run around Kansas voters.
Did you notice that the proposed new process could start as early as October? While details at the hearing were scarce, leaders appeared to suggest that they would start working on budget without knowing whether they would be elected. What happens if all the folks on the budget committee are voted out of office? Who takes the lead then?
Once again, we see Kansas legislative leaders trying to concentrate power. They don’t want the governor to even have the first say in the budgeting process, and they apparently don’t trust the rest of their colleagues. You know, all the people who drive to Topeka in January to actually make laws.
Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican, raised concerns that these changes would also limit the ability of constituents to speak about budget priorities.
McGinn might have decided to retire, but she has a point. Leaders apparently don’t even trust their constituents when it comes to spending.
In there interest of fairness, I should note that the reform committee considered several worthwhile proposals. Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, discussed ending lawmakers’ de facto three-day work week. Yes, they usually take Mondays and Fridays off, at times slowing progress to a crawl. The panel also targeted budget earmarks for favored programs that don’t go through a regular committee process.
In the interest of perspective, however, I’m not falling over myself with gratitude. It’s obvious that legislators should work throughout the week, and it’s obvious they shouldn’t be larding up the budget with unvetted spending.
It’s like going through life without running over someone with your car. I mean, I’m glad that you didn’t, but surely you don’t deserve a plaque.
Lawmakers might still be able to make worthwhile changes to the budgeting process. They could start with increasing transparency, which Carpenter noted wasn’t discussed by members of either party. But until they stop jostling for partisan advantage and making themselves look foolish, don’t expect much.
Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.
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