News & Commentary

The case led by the ACLU against KHP is best known for challenging the Kansas two-step, a controversial technique used by troopers to extend traffic stops and eventually search vehicles.

Following a challenge by the ACLU, a federal judge said Kansas troopers thwarted the 14th Amendment. But a federal appeals panel decided better training is enough to remedy the violations.

Esmie Tseng, communications director of the ACLU of Kansas, told NCR that the opposition to the detention facility in Leavenworth comes from people of a variety of backgrounds who remember CoreCivic's previous failings and do not want it to operate without accountability. "The Sisters of Charity have been a consistent voice and serve as a conscience for the rest of the community," Tseng said. "They've given a voice to that human element." She also emphasized that the people of Leavenworth will not back away from CoreCivic. As she put it: "The community has not forgotten what they put this city through."

Esmie Tseng, communications director for the ACLU of Kansas, said the data confirms what is already known. “This is clearly a numbers game about quotas and percentages for ICE agents, divorced from the humanity of who is impacted and blurring the lines between the civil immigration matters and the cruel legacy of our criminal legal system,” she said. She argued each data point represents someone going through a traumatic experience that she said can involve being grabbed off the street by strangers in masks, put in chains, thrown in the back of an unmarked vehicle and driven to a facility with deplorable conditions. 

Although Easter said not much changes under the new agreement, the ACLU of Kansas warns that the issue can fall back on taxpayers. “It’s still a problem,” ACLU Kansas Executive Director Micah Kubic said. “If ICE asks… the county to detain someone and ICE was wrong about who it was… it will be the Sedgwick County Sheriff that does that, and it will be Sedgwick County taxpayers who pay the bill for those wrongful detentions.”

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.”

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.

The lawsuit, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas on behalf of four plaintiffs, was lodged against Attorney General Kris Kobach as well as six current and former Johnson County judges.