Kansas AG Schmidt targeting KCK immigration ordinance for political gain, critics say

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt was silent in 2020 when the Lawrence City Commission passed an ordinance declaring its community a sanctuary city.

There was nothing from Schmidt later that year after the Roeland Park City Council approved a similar policy limiting cooperation with immigration and customs enforcement.

But last month, when Wyandotte County created a municipal identification card and limited how the unified government and KCK police department would work with federal immigration authorities, Schmidt immediately put out a press release.

He criticized Biden administration policies on the Southern Border and said it was unacceptable for Wyandotte County politicians to ask police to “turn a blind eye to particular illegal activity.” He asked the Legislature for a bill blocking portions of the Safe & Welcoming City Act, a measure long sought by immigrant advocates.

Critics say Schmidt’s new interest in the issue is driven by his candidacy for governor, and the political advantage to be gained by targeting immigration policy in the state’s only majority-minority county. Schmidt, a Republican, is the presumptive November opponent of Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. He has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

“I don’t know whether he’s just trying to steal (Attorney General candidate Kris) Kobach’s thunder on the immigration issue or whether he just thinks it’s convenient as a talking point for his campaign for governor by scaring people,” said Judy Ancel, president of the Kansas City-based Cross Border Network, which was part of the Safe & Welcoming coalition. “To me, it’s really insulting, I think, to the thousands of immigrants who make the Kansas economy run. To instill fear of immigrants with bills like this will inevitably lead to racial profiling.”

Schmidt said politics had nothing to do with it.

“I didn’t ask for the timing,” he said earlier this month, when he appeared before a Legislative committee to introduce his bill and ask for passage. “It was the unified government that decided.to proceed with this ordinance in February so we had little choice but to react.”

“There are, I think, reasonable questions that have been directed to us about what are you going to do to enforce state law. My response has to be there’s no state law to enforce.”

Similar questions, Schmidt said, didn’t come when Lawrence and Roeland Park took action two years ago.

“It’s hard to assess why the difference,” Schmidt said. “It might be that Lawrence came in the midst of the pandemic and everybody was otherwise focused.”

Furthermore, he said, Wyandotte County’s policy was more specific than Lawrence’s, creating more concern.

The Kansas House passed the bill on a 84 to 38 vote Wednesday. It now heads to the Senate.

The bill bans Kansas municipalities from enforcing any statutes that would prohibit law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Under the law, counties would be permitted to establish municipal identification cards but such IDs would not be usable for any official state purpose.

During debate on the bill last week, Rep. Tom Burroughs, a Kansas City Democrat, said he felt Wyandotte County had become a “point of missiles” in the Legislature. Burroughs eventually voted to pass the bill.

Advocates in Wyandotte County have been working on the Safe & Welcoming ordinance for 5 years. In that time, the Statehouse made no attempt to preempt it as it has other issues, such as bans on plastic bags or making county sheriff an appointed position.

The Safe & Welcoming City Act grants residents in Kansas City, Kansas the ability to obtain municipal identification. Advocates said certain populations, like undocumented immigrants and the homeless, lack the means to get an ID, often cutting them off from critical services. The ordinance also ensured that the Unified Government’s resources are not used to enforce federal immigration law, unless there is an immediate public safety threat.

Earlier this month, dozens of Wyandotte County residents and advocates came before the Legislature asking for Schmidt’s bill to be shelved.

GOP lawmakers said they would have pursued the measure regardless of the Attorney General’s political ambition.

“The attorney general’s job is to protect the laws of Kansas and keep people as safe as possible. He was doing his job,” House Speaker Ron Ryckman, an Olathe Republican, said.

Rep. Patrick Penn, a Wichita Republican, said the bill was the right action to ensure a uniform statewide response to federal immigration enforcement.

“There’s no qualms or issues with us having a law that is uniform across the state so we don’t have 700 plus ways to address what the federal government failed to do,” Penn said. “We wrote the bill in a very targeted fashion to make sure that we had compliance with federal law and mandates but we also allow municipalities, should they choose to create a local ID, it’s legit for them and their purposes.

But advocates of the policy in Wyandotte County noted the message sent to immigrants.

“I think politically motivated is one way to look at it. I also think it’s fair to acknowledge the demographics of the municipality that promotes a response from the Attorney General,” Lauren Bonds, an attorney with the Safe & Welcoming coalition said.

Rep. Luis Ruiz, a Kansas City Democrat, said the bill would send people back “into the shadows”

“I feel like this bill threatens the safety factor for thousands of people in Wyandotte County,” he said.