Bigoted flyers allegedly posted by members of a Ku Klux Klan group warned immigrants in Kentucky and other states to “leave now” in order to “avoid deportation.”

The flyer was posted in Ludlow, Kentucky, on January 20 — both Donald Trump’s inauguration day and the Martin Luther King Jr holiday — and its authors claim connection with the KKK.

After the flyer caused a stir locally, police in Ludlow took to Facebook to issue a message that the flyer had been taken down.

“After some discussion we have decided to take down the flyer because it serves no real purpose, but we will keep this post up. We are aware and have already taken one report for this disturbing and disgusting propaganda that is being passed around our community,” the department said in the Facebook post. “This hateful garbage has been turning up in other cities as well.”

The department went on to say that it does not “support or condone this type of behavior” and that anyone who feels harassed or threatened should call and file a police report.

Officials in Fort Wright and Bellevue, Kentucky both confirmed that they had received reports of the same flyer.

“While other communities have also been targeted with this type of material in the past, to our knowledge, this is the first time our community has had this type of disgusting material distributed,” Fort Wright Mayor Dave Hatter said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “Council, staff, and I are outraged and dismayed that this has occurred in our community. It is especially appalling that it happened on Dr. Martin Luther King Day.”

The flyer comes in the wake of Trump’s extreme immigration rhetoric. He has declared a national emergency at the border, vowed to use the military to police the border, and has promised to resume mass deportations. The president is going so far as to challenge the U.S. Constitution and attempt to eliminate birthright citizenship, which is protected by the nation’s founding laws.

Police in Ludlow said they will seek criminal charges against those responsible for distributing the flyers, assuming they can find a suspect, but also noted that unless the flyers can be shown to have violated a law, they are protected speech under the First Amendment.

The flyer features a cartoon image of Uncle Sam kicking a family of four away from the U.S., holding a declaration that reads “mass deportation in 2025” and “report them all.”

Under the cartoon is a call from the alleged KKK group responsible for the flyer calling for more members, which can be purchased for a single dollar. The flyer lists its “realms” — its areas of operation — as being Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. Each of the “realms” has separate phone numbers listed.

The Cincinnati Enquirer called the Ohio number and was directed to a voicemail that said “in January, the world’s going to change for a lot of people, especially the immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.”

Springfield, Ohio is where Trump and other Republicans lied about immigrants stealing and eating household pets.

The Kentucky phone number implores callers to join them in their fight against immigrants and LGBT+ people.

“Come stand with us and help fight against illegal immigration, homosexuality and every other form of wickedness and lawlessness,” the recording says. “We hope to hear from you soon. You have a great white day of white power.”

The Kentucky Department of Education is predicting a “funding shortfall” of about $40 million in state support for local school districts.

In a weekly letter to colleagues released Tuesday afternoon, Education Commissioner Robbie Fletcher wrote that KDE is predicting the shortfall for funding in the 2024-25 academic year, after “a detailed review of preliminary data.” 

“KDE is currently tracking an estimated SEEK shortfall of $12 million for funding to public school districts provided in Kentucky statutes,” Fletcher wrote. “KDE estimates an additional shortfall of $28 million for funding to public school districts that is specifically conditioned on the availability of funds.” 

The SEEK formula, or Support Education Excellence in Kentucky, determines the amount of state funding to local school districts. The formula has a base per-pupil funding allocation, along with additional funding for factors like transportation costs or the number of students in a district who qualify for additional resources like special education, free or reduced-price lunch and English language assistance.

Fletcher wrote that a SEEK shortfall previously occurred four times between fiscal years 2010 and 2014. 

“Since the 2017 fiscal year, the Commonwealth’s SEEK budget included more funding than was ultimately payable to districts as required by the SEEK formula,” Fletcher said. “During the 2021 fiscal year, there was a $231,000 surplus in SEEK appropriations. During the last fiscal year, there was a $156.3 million surplus in SEEK appropriations.”

To determine estimated costs for each biennial state budget, KDE works with the Kentucky Office of the State Budget Director “to gather data projecting property values, public school enrollments and student special populations” as lawmakers consider the budget, Fletcher wrote. 

The state budget director’s office in November predicted that Kentucky’s general fund revenue will decline by $213 million or 1.4% in fiscal year 2025. Some Republican lawmakers have questioned the projections and noted that actual revenues are up a bit through the first five months of this fiscal year.

Fletcher added that KDE is currently working with the state budget director and chairs of the General Assembly’s Appropriations and Revenue committees, Republicans Rep. Jason Petrie and Sen. Chris McDaniel, “to explore funding options that may address this estimated shortfall and minimize impacts to Kentucky’s public schools.” 

Lawmakers met earlier this month to begin their 2025 legislative session and will return to Frankfort in February. The House already has approved a reduction in the state income tax rate from 4% to 3.5% and the Senate is expected to quickly follow suit.

“These shortfall numbers are only estimates now and are subject to change in the upcoming weeks as the department completes final SEEK calculations,” Fletcher said. “State law requires KDE to complete final SEEK calculations by March 1 of each year. KDE will provide information to school districts regarding the impact to individual districts as soon as those final calculations are complete. While we know this estimated shortfall is critical to our public schools, it is important to keep in mind that it represents 1.43% of our overall SEEK funding of $2.7 billion.” 

The SEEK formula was established by the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, but questions around school funding have been raised recently.

Last week, students on the Kentucky Student Voice Team filed a lawsuit against the state for failing to provide “an adequate and equitable public education.” Among claims in their suit, the students say eroding state financial support for school districts has made the inequality gap even wider than it was before 1990. KSVT’s data came from sources such as KDE, the federal government, and a data analysis from the progressive think tank Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.

However, Republicans in Frankfort have argued they are funding schools at record-levels. At the Kentucky Chamber Day Dinner earlier this month, Republican House Speaker David Osborne criticized “people that have not provided one single, substantive, creative, thoughtful, intentional policy change to improve education” and said that “asking for more money is not big. Asking for more money is not bold. Asking for more money is just an ask — and it’s not working.” 

Kentucky has 171 public school districts. 

A Ku Klux Klan group – advertising a Maysville, Kentucky, “national office” and chapters in Ohio, Kentucky and three other states – is distributing election-themed literature in Northern Kentucky.

The Ludlow Police Department posted a copy of a flyer on its Facebook page on Monday afternoon, with the headline “Leave Now. Avoid Deportation.”

“We are aware and have already taken one report for this disturbing and disgusting propaganda that is being passed around our community,” the police post reads. “This hateful garbage has been turning up in other cities as well.”

Officials in Fort Wright and Bellevue said in social media posts on Monday that such flyers have also been located in their communities.

“While other communities have also been targeted with this type of material in the past, to our knowledge, this is the first time our community has had this type of disgusting material distributed,” Fort Wright Mayor Dave Hatter said in a statement.

“Council, Staff, and I are outraged and dismayed that this has occurred in our community. It is especially appalling that it happened on Dr. Martin Luther King Day,” Hatter added.

The flyers hit just as Donald Trump took office on Monday, having earlier promised “mass deportations” of persons in the United States without legal immigration status.

Police to seek criminal charges for ‘despicable flyers’

According to Ludlow Police Lt. Greg Eastham, the Ludlow Police Department received a call from a Deverill Street resident just after 10 a.m. Monday about what he called “these despicable flyers.”

In a press release, Ludlow officials called the flyers “racist propaganda” adding that they “do not support nor condone this hateful garbage.”

“If we can identify the responsible parties, we will seek criminal charges against them,” the press release said. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has identified 1,430 such groups across the country, including several dozen in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

The police release also acknowledged that unless the flyers cross “the threshold of a criminal matter, they are still protected under the First Amendment.”

‘Report them all,’ flyer advises

The flyer features an image of Uncle Sam, kicking a retreating family of four. In his hand, the Uncle Sam figure holds a “proclamation” with the words “mass deportation in 2025” and “report them all.”

Under the image, the Trinity White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan offers applications and memberships for $1. It lists “realms” in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, with individual phone numbers and an invitation to “call the nearest realm for more information.”

The Ohio number goes directly to voice mail. A recording, in a male voice, says “In January, the world’s going to change for a lot of people, especially the immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.” (Springfield found itself in the national spotlight last fall as false rumors spread that residents of Haitian descent were eating pets.)

“But nothing’s going to change for the Ku Klux Klan and the Trinity White Knights,” the recording continues. “We will always secure the existence of our people and future for white children.”

The Kentucky number also goes to voice mail.

“Come stand with us and help fight against illegal immigration, homosexuality and every other form of wickedness and lawlessness,” the recording on that line says. “We hope to hear from you soon. You have a great white day of white power.”

The same flyer has turned up in several Indiana communities, according to multiple news outlets.

Ludlow police ask residents with information about who is disseminating the flyers to call the department at 859-261-8186.