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The families, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas and the law firm Ballard Spahr, want a Douglas County District Court judge to issue a temporary injunction on the ban.

In 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas published a white paper about agreements between local law enforcement and ICE. “Being undocumented is not a crime,” the ACLU wrote, “and local law enforcement have no obligation to help the federal government enforce immigration law.” The ACLU contends that the agreements “have given rise to racial profiling, civil rights violations, and breakdowns in community relations” and “continue to disrupt communities and fuel racism and xenophobia in Kansas and around the country.”

Logan DeMond, a policy director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, told The Star that changing ordinances in anticipation of punishment is unnecessary when no direct threats have been made to the Unified Government. “These actions pose a threat to a more diverse, equitable county at the expense of local control,” DeMond said during a recent committee meeting, adding that repealing and suspending ordinances and practices means the Unified Government is “bending the knee to an administration drunk on power.”

Logan DeMond, director of policy and research for the ACLU of Kansas, submitted testimony in October over the initial standing committee vote to not proceed with eliminating the DEI verbiage. “This sets a very dangerous precedent for the Unified Government,” DeMond said. “This will only serve to widen the glaring inequalities that already exist.”

Kobach and top legislative leadership had wanted Republican lawmakers to address SB 180 at a special session in addition to partisan redistricting. While amending the law could resolve statutory interpretation issues, it would not resolve constitutional claims raised by transgender people represented by the ACLU.

After the Kansas Supreme Court declined in September to hear an appeal on Senate Bill 180, the case is now back in Shawnee County District Court. The lawsuit pits Attorney General Kris Kobach against Gov. Laura Kelly's administration and a group of transgender Kansans represented by the ACLU.

“In general, anytime a politician tells you that they want to make it harder for eligible people to vote, you should ask yourself, ‘Why is that?’,” executive director Micah Kubic said. “And the answer is usually to avoid accountability and to avoid having everyday people get a voice in what they want and what they want their communities to look like.”

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit challenging a state law that allows judges to extend probation for years when an offender fails to pay restitution in their cases. The lawsuit alleges the practice punishes people for being poor.

Monica Bennett, ACLU of Kansas legal director, said protection from arbitrary and unequal treatment under the law was a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution. “There is nothing about being poor that means you should be treated differently when serving a probation term, but it’s apparent that if our clients and many other Kansans were simply able to pay, their rights would be restored,” she said.