News & Commentary

Monica Bennett, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, told the Kansas News Service that immigrants are being used as scapegoats for rising government spending on health services.

“They held that if a police officer witnesses a traffic violation, they can go ahead and conduct a traffic stop, pull someone over, even if that stop is ‘pretexual’” — meaning the real motivation was to investigate other potential crimes.” said Kunyu Ching, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.

The American Civil Liberties Union said in May that those detainees are held in “crowded, unsanitary conditions” and that some have attempted suicide.

The companies are working to reactivate idle detention centers including a 1,033-bed facility in Leavenworth, Kansas, owned by CoreCivic.

A coalition of local, state, and regional organizations has come together to counter this narrative. It includes Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR), based in Kansas City; the ACLU of Kansas, which previously fought to shut the prison down; the local Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth; and Loud Light, representing immigrants in southwest Kansas. Together, the groups have mobilized residents, organized local faith leaders, and courted former prison guards to their campaign.

Local organizations, including the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth and ACLU of Kansas were also present.

“When we say we’re worried about the dehumanization of people inside the facility, when we say that we’re worried about the exploitation of workers, when we talk about life and death circumstances for everyone inside, the answer to those questions does not count in dollar amounts,” Esmie Tseng, spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, told those gathered.

A federal judge once called Leavenworth Detention Center “an absolute hell hole.” In a 2021 letter to federal officials, the ACLU of Kansas pointed to stabbings, suicides and homicides that occurred with “alarming frequency.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas organized and hosted the event across the street from the Johnson County Courthouse. Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas, said it was important the event happen in the week leading up to Independence Day.