Kris Kobach, Kansas Secretary of State, To Push Immigration Law

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is promising to press several controversial immigration measures when the state legislature reconvenes in January.

Having made immigration his signature issue, Kobach told the Lawrence Journal-World, that he wants the legislature to take up several immigration-related measures in the next session. This includes a bill similar to the controversial Arizona immigration measure he helped write, which allows police officers to detain individuals they believe may be undocumented.

"I think one of the reasons is that there is just so much demand for it from constituents," he said.

Also, he said, an e-Verify bill that has failed in the past in the Kansas Legislature is more likely to gain acceptance because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in May that upheld an Arizona law that requires employers use the E-Verify database system to check the immigration status of their workers.

During the 2011 session, legislation similar to another Arizona anti-illegal immigration law, and a bill to repeal in-state tuition for some undocumented students, was under consideration. Kobach has been a driving force behind both measures.

Kobach's announcement comes less than a week after Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce was recalled from his Senate seat -- an election based in large part on Pearce's authorship of the Arizona law. Kobach worked with Pearce to draft the immigration law, which was signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R) in 2010.

Kobach, a former Kansas Republican party chairman and Justice Department attorney, has been pushing similar immigration laws in multiple states, including Alabama. The Alabama law has also been endorsed by Brewer. Kobach's official duties as secretary of state do not include immigration or international issues, but are centered around election administration and business registration.

The announcement comes as Kansas legislators are gearing up for a legislative session that will play out against the backdrop of a growing split among conservatives and moderates in the state Republican party. With conservative Republicans controlling the governor's office and the state House of Representatives, moderate Republicans have been using their control of the state Senate to block conservative-related measures. A group of conservative Republicans -- mainly House members -- have announced plans to challenge moderate Republican senators in the primary to gain control of the Senate.

Among the issues debated in the moderate vs. conservative Kansas feud have been immigration, taxation, judicial selection, strip clubs, funding for the arts and education.

Comments

[dbrett480]

03:17 PM on 11/27/2011

If every state equally enforced the e-Verify and SECURE communities programs implemented by the federal government, we wouldn't be having this debate.

[hawaiianstile]

07:01 PM on 11/22/2011

my god one look through the comments is hurting my eyes. america is quickly becoming as freely and unashamedly racist as it was in its earlier days. careful none-whites this is how it starts. structural racism isn't satisfying them anymore. the american robots racist switch is being flicked to on.

[hawaiianstile]

06:58 PM on 11/22/2011

"wow they legalized racial profiling, i wana legalize it too." these are the people being considered for positions of responsibility?

[herenow12]

04:05 PM on 11/22/2011

While most Americans want a path to citizenship as a part of the solution of this immigration problem, these extremists incite hatred to get elected.

[TomTheSeal]

04:43 PM on 11/16/2011

Is it any wonder that Americans are finally reacting to this federally sponsored invasion ?

[ScaningTheWaves]

11:14 PM on 11/15/2011

Happy i dont live in the south any more with all this immigration stuff happening. Our problem of immigration up north is government gives free hand outs to other countries to legally bring immigrants over here and pay for them. The 5,000 Bosnians brought in my city a couple years ago is a perfect example.

Government, you just can't win with it.

[hrpmap]

11:13 PM on 11/15/2011

Good another state comming on board, in the end the illegals will be sent home, like it or not.

[kerthialfad]

10:52 PM on 11/15/2011

Pearce and Kobch, men of courage and conviction. These guys will never be unemployed.

[Whatdoyou thinkof this]

05:26 PM on 11/15/2011

punitive immigration measures ?????? seems like he was just asking for the authorities to enforce laws. How is this punitive ? It is a sad day when someone in politics is ousted for being a stand for enforcing the law.

[leyvadaniel]

12:57 PM on 11/15/2011

What, to have another fiasco like in AZ and AL? Haven't these people learned anything?

[RobietheCat]

02:01 PM on 11/15/2011

Maybe they're tired of 'accidents' like this one here on the weekend, more like murder:

SANTA ANA – The parents of a 2-year-old boy struck and killed by a driver authorities believe was intoxicated and unlicensed said Thursday that they are devastated by the loss of their son and want justice.

Angel Alberto Cruz Perez, 23, was taken into custody after failing a field sobriety test, Bertagna said. Cruz Perez admitted to driving the SUV, with a passenger in the vehicle also indicating that he had been behind the wheel, police said."

- from: http://www.ocregister.com/news/darwin-326365-suv-bertagna.html

- The driver had no license, was DUI and fled the scene.

[frankg3400]

02:33 PM on 11/15/2011

I guess we can be as thick headed as illegals and their backers since they seem to think no matter what, illegals don't break laws and deserve preferential treatment. We are doing fine here in AZ, the NCLR can promote all the propaganda they want but Americans are sick of illegals becoming a "protected class" when they should not even be here.

[leyvadaniel]

03:34 PM on 11/15/2011

Bla, bla, bla. When you have something that makes sense, let me know. YAWN!

[hrpmap]

11:43 PM on 11/15/2011

http://one-simple-idea.com/CrimeVictimsOfIllegalAliens1.htm This site says it all. The victims of illegal alien crime are identfied and the henious crimes they suffered are cataloged as well.

[ugly american]

11:45 AM on 11/15/2011

There are going to be more state making their own immigration laws as the Federal government steps up efforts to push other countries people on us.
Obama has made heroic efforts in the name of making life easier for foreign-born Latins in this country, especially if they are actually not supposed to be here.
He has re-arranged policies and fudged numbers and even issued a little-paid-attention-to edict that would allow many to stay.
Many states don't want illegal foreign nationals. Some. like California and New York, are crying for all of them they can get.
Kansas, a legendary farm state, says they have too many. They want them to leave.
If the US government is rolling out the welcome mat for all comers, the states should at least have the right to make it plain whether or not they want them there,

[leyvadaniel]

12:59 PM on 11/15/2011

How is the record number of deportations under the Obama administration make the lives of Latinos (latins is incorrect) easier? You people talk about thing you don't even know.

[frankg3400]

02:28 PM on 11/15/2011

It will make the lives of legal Latinos easier since a large number are competing for the same jobs as illegal Latinos. Caesar Chavez would report illegals because they were compromising what he was doing to help the migrant workers because they would drive down the wages just as the current illegals have done across the board because of their presence here in the workforce.

[Viper1st]

02:59 PM on 11/15/2011

Fewer mouths to feed at the dinner table?

Deporting 1 illegal every 79 seconds of every hour, of every day, of every week, of every month of BHO's 32-month presidency

[Eagleman]

03:56 PM on 11/15/2011

You are correct there is hardly any immigration going on. The media is making up story

There are no drug cartels in Mexico either...

[ugly american]

11:28 AM on 11/16/2011

Quick! Look up! There's my point flying over your head! See it?

[FredSanders]

11:42 AM on 11/15/2011

Meanwhile our border with Mexico, the only one that really counts, is safer than it has been ever, and net migration from Mexico is now......ZERO.

Why is this not on the Front Page:

Data from both sides of the border suggest that illegal immigration from Mexico is falling rapidly, “as U.S. job shortages, tighter border enforcement and the frightening presence of criminal gangs on the Mexican side dissuade many from making the trip.” Mexican census figures show that fewer nationals are leaving and many are returning, “leaving net migration at close to zero.”

[ugly american]

11:49 AM on 11/15/2011

When the immigration becomes emigration and the net count goes negative, that will be front page news.

[reddrn63]

11:53 AM on 11/15/2011

You are so wrong about it being safer. Look at the local newspaper articles from towns and cities in the U.S., that border Mexico. When the cartels come inside the U.S. as ndicated by these news articles to murder indivduals, how can you say it is safer? Yes I am aware about Mexicans and others returning but that does not equal ZERO as you state. Get all the facts before making such a statement.

[jdwlor]

11:23 AM on 11/15/2011

Im sure there are alot of people out here that are looking for a job and say they can;t get one it's because the ilegals are doing the work.But it is the mom and pop buisnesses are the ones that are doing the hiring,but no one wants to do anything about that.Don't get your panty hose all twisted up the grass has growing ,winter is on it's way.

[Greg34]

10:27 AM on 11/15/2011

Way to go Kansas. I have an even better bill for you and it will survive the DOJ interference. Pass a bill called securing Kansas resource Act. Require E-verify for all employers, you also require E-verify for all state benefits, (food stamps, subsidized housing, unemployment, etc). Make not mention of documented status but state only Legal US residents residing in Kansas can receive these benefits. There will be no authority for the DOJ to intervene. Expand cooperation with Secure Communities and start comiling statistics of people ICE or Homeland refuses to deport and classify them as illegals.

[spytheweb]

12:06 AM on 11/16/2011

11 Nov 2011

"A new report from a Minnesota newspaper, the Austin Daily Herald, shows that enforcement measures taken at the local level are indeed reversing illegal immigration trends. A combination of factors, including police checking immigration status to businesses scrutinizing documents more during the hiring process, illegal aliens are finding it harder and harder to live in the state and are repatriating to their home countries."

http://www.numbersusa.com/content/news/november-11-2011/evidence-minnesota-attrition-through-enforcement-working.html

[13champlain]

09:37 AM on 11/15/2011

Rock Chalk