TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach , a confidant of President Donald Trump on immigration, is asking the state Legislature to pass two measures aimed at fighting illegal immigration by barring "sanctuary cities" and allowing state troopers to enforce immigration laws.
Republican state Rep. John Whitmer, of Wichita, introduced the two proposals in a House committee Thursday at Kobach's request. Republican Sen. Caryn Tyson, of Parker, introduced identical versions in a Senate committee.
One measure would bar cities and counties from adopting sanctuary policies protecting immigrants in the country illegally and would require their cooperation with federal immigration and customs authorities. A similar bill got a hearing in a House committee last year but did not make it to that chamber's floor.
The other bill would require the Kansas Highway Patrol to partner with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on the "enforcement of federal immigration laws, detentions and removals, and related investigations."
Kobach, an immigration hardliner, advised Trump's campaign on immigration issues. Kobach is a former law professor who helped draft tough state and local laws cracking down on illegal immigration, including in Arizona and Alabama.
Arizona, for example, passed a series of immigration crackdowns last decade that culminated with the approval of SB 1070 in 2010, which launched protests, lawsuits and national controversy with its provision requiring police to try to determine the immigration status of people during routine stops. Courts barred enforcement of several sections of the law, but the questioning requirement was ultimately upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, despite racial profiling concerns raised by critics of the statute.
Kobach's representatives declined to discuss the rationale for the measures, including the one covering the state patrol, which drew a rebuke from the head of the American Civil Liberties Union's Kansas chapter. Calling that proposal "absurd and wrong," Micah Kubic questioned why Kobach would push such legislation involving an agency outside his jurisdiction.
"Diverting scarce resources away from genuine threats to public safety and into duplicating the job of (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is wrong-headed, Kubic told The Wichita Eagle. "Multiple court decisions have established that it is the federal government's job to enforce immigration policy, not the job of state or local government."
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