Sedgwick County to consider anti-illegal-immigration resolution on in-state tuition, WIC

Sedgwick County commissioners will vote on asking the Legislature to bar illegal immigrants from receiving in-state tuition.

They’re also set to ask the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, once again, to try to block illegal immigrants from participating in the Women, Infants and Children program that provides nutritional foods and beverages for low-income families.

A spokeswoman for the governor’s office said late Monday a change to the nutritional program’s guidelines is unlikely.

Commissioners in the board’s more conservative majority say they’re standing up for Kansas taxpayers, citizens and legal immigrants.

“Our taxpayers subsidize state universities. And the question is, why are we subsidizing people who are here illegally when they can’t even get a job?” Commissioner Richard Ranzau asked. “It all goes back to, you know, forcing the taxpayer to subsidize illegal immigration through a variety of means, and these are a couple ways that the state could assist the taxpayer.”

Commissioner Dave Unruh said it’s another example of the commission unnecessarily wading into state and national issues.

“I think the majority of our folks want us to just do good government locally,” Unruh said. “I don’t think they want us involved in state or national issues where we have no authority.

“This discussion only sets us up for criticism and ill will in the community,” he said.

The item is on the commission’s agenda for its Wednesday meeting, which starts at 9 a.m.

‘Drain on resources’

The resolution says “Sedgwick County government believes that providing public money to support illegal aliens diverts valuable resources away from the sources of those funds, namely the citizens and legal immigrants who call Sedgwick County home.”

The document blasts federal authorities for not effectively addressing illegal immigration, saying it “condones the drain on resources they (illegal immigrants) create.”

“My point of view is the federal government is a problem regardless of who has been the president,” Ranzau said.

The resolution asks the Kansas Legislature to amend state law to “remove any provisions allowing persons without lawful immigration status to receive the benefit of in-state tuition.”

Tuition debate

Kansas passed a law in 2004 to allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at state universities if they meet the residency requirements that apply to U.S. citizens.

Commission Chairman Jim Howell, a former state representative from Derby, said lawmakers in Topeka occasionally push for a repeal of the law.

“If we subsidize someone’s education with in-state tuition, what happens when they graduate?” Howell asked. “If they can’t get a professional job in Kansas, they leave our state.”

Howell said state funding for universities is limited. “We’ve got plenty of folks here who live here locally that would be very qualified and would like to have access to those dollars to go to school,” he added.

Ranzau and Howell said the issue is connected to Sedgwick County through the funding it provides to Wichita State University and the Wichita Area Technical College.

If it passes Wednesday, the resolution would be sent to House Speaker Ray Merrick and Senate President Susan Wagle.

Lawmakers return to Topeka on Thursday to try to address inequities in public school funding. Ranzau said it is not the county’s intent to have the Legislature take up the issue during the special session. He said he wanted to keep legislative leaders “in the loop, basically.”

Djuan Wash, an advocate with the group Kansas Appleseed, called the language of the resolution “ridiculous.” He said undocumented immigrants shouldn’t be considered “people not contributing to our society.”

“We’re talking about lifelong Kansans here,” Wash said. “Why should they suffer and not be able to obtain a higher education? The goal is to get as many educated people as possible.

“We need as many bright and educated immigrants to be a part of our community as we can.”

Revisiting battle over WIC

The resolution represents another effort by the county to block illegal immigrants from a federal nutrition program.

The Women, Infants and Children program provides money for foods like milk and cereal at supermarkets.

Only families with lower income levels can participate.

Last fall, Ranzau proposed a series of changes to WIC, including a requirement for legal citizenship or immigration status.

Ranzau says he doesn’t know whether that requirement would apply to the mothers who receive the checks or to their children.

“I don’t know how that would work,” Ranzau said. “Whatever federal law allows.”

Some commissioners vented at an April meeting that the state hadn’t been responsive to the county’s request, a letter sent to the KDHE in October.

“We have to do something to make it an official vote,” Howell said of Wednesday’s resolution.

The renewed request would be sent to the offices of Gov. Sam Brownback and KDHE Secretary Susan Mosier.

If the state didn’t ask for a change in the guidelines, the county would want the KDHE and the governor’s office to publicly say why they would not to do so.

“The reason I’m pushing this is I want to get a response,” Ranzau said. “The citizens, the taxpayers of the state deserve an answer from the bureaucrats in Topeka. It’s either yes or no.”

Eileen Hawley, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, noted in a statement that eligibility for WIC benefits is determined by the federal government.

“It is unlikely they would approve an individual state’s request to change those requirements,” Hawley wrote.

‘Not up to county commissioners’

Unruh and Commissioner Tim Norton opposed last fall’s proposed changes to the WIC program. Howell and Commissioner Karl Peterjohn voted for them.

Unruh questioned the point of revisiting the issue.

“It’s clear, I think, where each commissioner stands on the issue,” he said. “It’s also clear that we do not have authority over that issue to make either national or state changes. That’s up to the Congress or the state Legislature, not up to county commissioners.”

Unruh said it’s unlikely he’d support the resolution on Wednesday.

“The majority of the people want us to provide county services to our health department that keep people safe, that keep people healthy,” Unruh said. “In general, our community wants us to have a well-educated community so that we can have a reason to attract industry here.

“I think we just ought to do the best we can with the resources we have to make our community both healthy and educated.”

This story was originally published June 20, 2016 at 12:45 PM with the headline "Sedgwick County to consider anti-illegal-immigration resolution on in-state tuition, WIC."