Immigrants' Rights

In recent years, government-sanctioned attacks on immigrants’ civil rights and liberties have increased in number and intensity. Immigrants face violence, discrimination, detention, and deportation, often without due process. When immigrants are denied equal protection under the law, the constitutional values upon which this country was founded are degraded.

protect immigrants

The ACLU of Kansas is dedicated to expanding and protecting the rights of immigrants in this state, regardless of their citizenship status. We use litigation, advocacy, public outreach, and education to work to lessen the hostility immigrants face on a daily basis on the state and local levels.

Our legal department has successfully petitioned jails in Kansas to stop illegally detaining people for unreasonable amounts of time at the request of federal immigration authorities. Most recently we helped to foil a bill that would have made it impossible for immigrant students raised in Kansas to receive in-state tuition to public universities in Kansas. Through the Know Your Rights project, we’re also working to educate immigrants in Kansas about their rights and supporting the community.

RESOURCES

The Latest

Publication
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Municipal ID Cards

Municipal ID cards are a form of photo identification issued by a city or county government, rather than by the state (as with a driver’s license) or the federal government (as with a passport).
Press Release
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MALDEF Seeks to Intervene on Behalf of Students to Defend Kansas Tuition Policy

A Latino civil rights organization filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit seeking to eliminate regular tuition for students without lawful immigration status in Kansas, according to papers filed in federal court Wednesday.
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights
Court Cases: Motion to Intervene: U.S. v. Kansas (In-state tuition)
News & Commentary
trump kobach

DOJ sues Kansas over in-state tuition for immigrants law. Kobach won’t defend it

The Department of Justice is suing Kansas over a 2004 law that allows some immigrants without legal status in the U.S. to receive in-state tuition at Kansas colleges and universities.
News & Commentary
DOJ

Trump’s DOJ sues Kansas to block in-state tuition for immigrant students

Micah Kubic, executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said the DOJ’s action was a coordinated attack from the federal government and Kobach on Kansas children. He said Kobach was “so determined to collude with the Trump-Vance administration that he will misuse our courts to attack the laws of the very state he serves.”

Cases, Campaigns & Legislation

Court Case
Jul 2, 2026

Motion to Intervene: U.S. v. Kansas (In-state tuition)

On July 1, 2026, MALDEF and the ACLU of Kansas filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit between the U.S. Department of Justice and the state of Kansas on behalf of students without lawful immigration status in Kansas who would be irreparably harmed by the elimination of regular tuition. The DOJ sued the state of Kansas for providing in-state tuition to college students without lawful immigration status. Rather than defend the laws of the state he serves, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach immediately joined the DOJ in asking the court to overturn the law that has been in place since 2004.