News & Commentary

A former maximum-security prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, is now a critical hub in the Trump administration’s immigration detention machine, transforming in just a few months from a facility shuttered for its inhospitable conditions to a privately run jail holding hundreds of immigrants.

For Esmie Tseng, the communications director for the ACLU of Kansas, coverage of these city meetings sanitizes the reality for detainees. “We’re making a contract out of putting people in cages,” Tseng said. “This isn’t just moving widgets from one place to another, or manufacturing notebooks and pens. This is profiting off of people being put in cages.”

“The combined effects of this bill—which is part of a larger legislative attack on immigrants and people of color—raise serious constitutional concerns,” according to an article on the ACLU of Kansas' website. “It significantly expands the authority of federal law enforcement in Kansas, weakens accountability, and threatens Kansans’ right to engage in lawful dissent.”

The ACLU of Kansas responded to the court ruling and a statement can be found below: This is a disappointing denial of the rights of those most impacted by the current administration’s cruel crusade against students in Kansas to participate in a lawsuit that will directly impact their future. The court has allowed the Department of Justice, in collusion with Attorney General Kobach, to slam the door on hardworking Kansas students, even though Kansans have long supported providing all children in our state the opportunity to learn. Jessica Swonger, Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Kansas

The ACLU of Kansas issued a statement against the decision: “This is a disappointing denial of the rights of those most impacted by the current administration’s cruel crusade against students in Kansas to participate in a lawsuit that will directly impact their future.”

Jessica Swonger, staff attorney with the ACLU of Kansas, said the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the ACLU of Kansas filed a motion in July to intervene on behalf of students impacted by U.S. v. Kansas. “This is a disappointing denial of the rights of those most impacted by the current administration’s cruel crusade against students in Kansas to participate in a lawsuit that will directly impact their future,” Swonger said. “The court has allowed the Department of Justice, in collusion with Attorney General Kobach, to slam the door on hardworking Kansas students, even though Kansans have long supported providing all children in our state the opportunity to learn.”

The ACLU of Kansas and partner groups sued Dodge City, in majority-minority Ford County, arguing its citywide elections diluted the votes of the city's Latino majority.

The American Civil Liberties Union now devotes half its time nationally to detention and immigration issues, said Micah Kubic, executive director of the Kansas ACLU. They monitor and sometimes oppose proposed bills.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas claimed via email that law enforcement entities are using the HALO Act to discourage bystanders from documenting the activity of federal agents. The nonprofit organization also claimed the law raises safety concerns for Kansans who encounter agents.