Legislature taking action on illegal-immigrant bills | The Wichita Eagle

With her two children at her side, Sandra Romero said that aggressive enforcement of immigration laws tore her family apart.

Her husband immigrated alone as a young man trying to escape civil war in Guatemala, helped his parents, and built a family.

But immigration agents tracked him down after he tried to obtain legal residency after taking some bad legal advice.

"We're not the same family that we were before," she said through tears at the front of Our Lady of the New Covenant Chapel at Newman University, one of several immigration vigils held across the state Tuesday. "Even they say they're not the happy children they used to be."

In Kansas, it's been a tough year for illegal immigrants and their supporters.

The difference has mainly been the election of Kris Kobach, one of the nation's most prominent proponents of tough immigration laws, as Kansas secretary of state.

The Legislature has three major bills on the docket based on the belief that illegal immigration is harming the state's economy, burdening its universities and tainting its elections.

Kobach, the co-author of Arizona's immigration bill, said Tuesday evening that many of the arguments against the bills are misleading.

House Bill 2372, the Arizona-style legislation, targets only illegal immigrants, doesn't split up families, and protects legal immigrants and U.S. citizens who compete with illegal immigrants for jobs, he said.

"If these groups protesting really cared about U.S. citizens who are of minority race or ethnicity, they'd be just as adamant as I am that we enforce our immigration laws," he said.

Immigration bills

In the Capitol, opponents of the bills have been packing committee rooms to overflowing.

The three measures aimed at illegal immigrants are:

* House Bill 2372: Modeled on Arizona's law, this measure would require local police to detain and check the immigration status of people they come in contact with if they have a reasonable suspicion the person is in the country illegally. It also makes it a state crime to house or offer other support to illegal immigrants.

The bill has been tabled by the House Judiciary Committee.

But late Tuesday, Rep. Greg Smith, R-Overland Park, moved to pull the bill out of the committee and bring it straight to the floor. Because a day's notice is required on such motions, it will be voted on today.

* House Bill 2006: Seeks to repeal the 2004 law that allows illegal immigrants' children who attend for three years and graduate from a Kansas high school to continue their education and pay in-state tuition at state universities, community colleges and trade schools.

The measure passed the House but stalled in the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, which voted not to recommend it for passage.

* House Bill 2067: Aimed at what its supporters allege is widespread and undetected voting fraud by noncitizen immigrants, this bill would require all voters to provide state-issued photo ID when they cast their ballots at the polls, or their driver's license or non-driver ID number when they vote by mail. It also requires new voters to prove their citizenship when they register, by providing a birth certificate, passport or other documentation.

Opponents argue that the reports of voting fraud are mainly groundless and that the bill is really aimed at suppressing poor, minority and elderly voters, which protects Republican dominance in state government.

On Tuesday, the Senate advanced the measure to a final vote today and it is expected to pass.

Faith's role

Sister Therese Bangert, social justice coordinator for the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, has been helping to organize opposition to the bills at the Capitol.

She said the effort is a mobilization of religious and charitable organizations "who walk with the suffering of the immigrants in our communities."

"They have a real passion that the needs of the immigrant community are brought forth and their needs and suffering are not reduced to 'what about illegal do you not understand?' " she said.

Tuesday's Wichita vigil, and similar events in other cities, are part of the pushback against the bills.

Teresa Molina, president of the board of Sunflower Community Action, which organized the vigil in Wichita, said illegal immigrants contribute to the economy and manifest the family values that Kansans hold dear.

"They're buying homes, they're paying for groceries clothing and vehicles," she said. "They're adding to our state economy."

She said an Arizona-style bill could lead to costly lawsuits, deter new businesses from locating in Kansas and push out immigrants and their spending power.

Sam Muyskens, founder of Global Faith in Action, a group that helps focus different religions on common goals, said he hopes the vigils throughout the state encourage people to follow the Golden Rule — do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

"I think the conscience of the Legislature and all of our nation and communities is going to need to change," he said. "We have become too self-centered and we don't recognize the need of our neighbor."