News & Commentary

Earlier this week, the ACLU of Kansas called on the Lenexa Police Department to release the body camera footage from that morning. In a Facebook post, the ACLU said it stood with the community wanting justice for the young man.

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas urged the Lenexa Police Department to release footage of Chacon’s killing.

More than two weeks after a Grandview man was shot and killed by Lenexa police, the ACLU of Kansas is calling for transparency and accountability.

“We’ve known for a long time that the KHP is not the only law enforcement agency in Kansas that conducts pretextual traffic stops on interstate highways in the name of ‘drug interdiction,” Ching said in a statement to 12 News.

A key finding from a recently released report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas revealed that the county’s bail system “penalizes poverty, perpetuates racial disparities, and undermines the presumption of innocence.”

Micah Kubic, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said the deal between ICE and CoreCivic “reflects a broader pattern of collusion between private corporations and their enablers in this presidential administration.”

Eunice Cho, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union’s Prison Project, said a Kansas prison faces similar conditions and added third bunks on beds to fit more immigrant detainees. While ICE data shows an average of 26 migrants, she said it’s closer to 80.

“Holding people in extended lockdown, and denying them access to adequate medical care, legal counsel, and even sunlight isn’t just inhumane,” Cho said. “It’s illegal.”

A judge on Wednesday barred a major U.S. private prison operator from housing immigrants facing possible deportation in a shuttered Kansas City area detention center unless it can get a permit from frustrated city officials.