Kobach commercial attacks Kelly over immigration. She says its claims are false | The Wichita Eagle

Republican Kris Kobach calls Democrat Laura Kelly an “open borders extremist” in a new ad. Kelly says the ad’s claims are false.

The 30-second commercial, posted online Wednesday, says Kelly voted to allow sanctuary cities and voted to give undocumented immigrants welfare benefits. Kelly’s campaign says both of those claims are false.

The ad, in the final days of the race for Kansas governor, shows the Republican secretary of state mirroring President Donald Trump’s recent focus on a caravan of migrants in Mexico slowly making their way on foot toward the U.S. border.

Public polls show the two candidates in a tight race ahead the Nov. 6 election. Separate polls released this week have given either Kobach or Kelly small, one or two-point leads.

The ad opens with news footage of the caravan, then shows an image of Kelly, a Topeka state senator, next to video of the caravan as the narrator begins talking about Kelly.

It ends with a cable news interview of Kobach: “If you want to stop illegal immigration, stop rewarding illegal immigration.”

The ad does not cite its sources for the information.

Kobach tweeted the ad on Wednesday morning. About two hours later, Kelly’s campaign issued a statement from former Republican Gov. Bill Graves condemning the ad. Graves has endorsed Kelly.

“His blatant disregard for the truth and his scare tactics are disappointing to say the least. Kris Kobach is not fit to lead Kansas,” Graves said.

The Kelly campaign also distributed a rebuttal of the statements in the Kobach ad.

Kelly’s campaign noted that she has said several times that she supports secure borders. In previous statements, she has portrayed immigration as largely a federal issue and has said she would encourage the Kansas congressional delegation to pass immigration legislation.

Kobach campaign spokeswoman Danedri Herbert said the “open borders” label is “routinely given to those who want to offer generous welfare benefits to illegal aliens and to those who refuse to end sanctuary cities.”

She added: “Laura Kelly is among the worst of the worst.”

The Kobach ad says Kelly voted to allow sanctuary cities. Her campaign flatly said she has never voted to allow sanctuary cities. Herbert said Kelly in 2008 voted against an amendment to a bill that would have imposed penalties on sanctuary cities.

The term sanctuary city typically refers to cities where local governments have limited cooperation with the federal government on immigration enforcement, such as declining to detain people suspected of being in the country illegally.

The Trump administration in 2017 listed five Kansas counties that it said restricted cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The Associated Press reported that two of the counties – Finney and Harvey – said they do honor requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (or ICE).

And the AP reported that federal data shows ICE sent 11,615 detainer requests to facilities in Kansas from 2003 to 2017. Of those, Kansas jails denied only 53 detainers.

A bill pushed by Kobach in 2017 that would have prohibited Kansas cities from acting as sanctuary cities advanced to the Senate, but was never debated or voted on by senators. A Senate committee did approve it, but Kelly doesn’t serve on the committee.

During a 2017 Senate debate over Medicaid expansion, Kelly voted against an amendment that would have denied expanded Medicaid to residents living in sanctuary cities. The amendment failed 13-25.

The amendment would not have allowed or banned sanctuary cities. It would have only prohibited benefits to residents living in those places.

The ad says Kelly voted to give undocumented immigrants welfare benefits. The Kelly campaign said she actually voted in favor of stopping undocumented immigrants from receiving public assistance.

In 2008, Kelly voted in favor of Senate Bill 458. The bill, which passed the Senate 40-0, prohibited businesses from knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants and prohibited undocumented immigrants from getting public benefits.

Lastly, the ad says Kelly voted to give undocumented immigrants in-state tuition rates. Herbert said Kelly voted against an amendment to repeal the in-state rate.

The Kelly campaign described the claim as “misleading” as opposed to false like the other statements.

Kansas lawmakers approved in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants in 2004. Kelly joined the Legislature in 2005.

“Laura Kelly believes we should not attack children for the mistakes of their parents. By continuing their education, these children will become contributing taxpayers in our state and reduce our workforce shortage problems,” her campaign said.

Kobach has repeatedly talked about his opposition to the policy on the campaign trail. He contends the law rewards undocumented immigrants.

He has argued in the past – without proof – that ending the law would stem the rising tide of tuition rate increases.

“You divide that up by the number of students, and it would offer relief to many Kansans at these universities,” Kobach said in May. “I think it’s really appalling that we have been doing this in Kansas … since 2004. It was illegal in 2004, it’s illegal in 2018. And it’s unfair.”

About 670 undocumented immigrants enrolled in Kansas universities and community colleges in the fall of 2017 under the 2004 policy that allows them to pay in-state tuition rates if they went to high school in Kansas and are pursuing or plan to pursue legalization or citizenship.

They account for 0.37 percent of all students, according to the Kansas Board of Regents, which governs the state’s public higher education institutions.