Kansas AG Derek Schmidt proposes bill to block WyCo ‘Safe and Welcoming’ ordinance
The Kansas Attorney General is asking state lawmakers to overturn a Wyandotte County ordinance that provides for a municipal photo identification card and prohibits localities from helping to enforce federal immigration law.
A bill authored by Derek Schmidt, Kansas Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor, bars local governments from preventing law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Under the bill, municipal identification cards could be issued but would not satisfy any state or federal identification requirements.
The measure, Schmidt said in a statement Wednesday, would ban “sanctuary cities.”
“Citizens throughout our state deserve to know that wherever they may travel in Kansas, law enforcement officials are cooperating with federal and state agencies to fairly enforce applicable law and are not obliged to turn a blind eye to some unlawful conduct merely because of local politics,” he said.
The bill, modeled on Indiana law, would need to pass in the House and Senate and gain Gov. Laura Kelly’s signature to become law. It was introduced to the House Federal and State Affairs Committee Monday and formally introduced to the full Legislature Wednesday.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas passed the Safe & Welcoming City Act on a 6-4 vote earlier this month.
It allows those who could not previously obtain IDs to get them, easing the way to acquiring library cards, bank accounts, school enrollment and access to other services.
Supporters said the act will help protect the county’s undocumented immigrants, making them more willing report crimes without fear that interaction with the police would lead to notification of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Christian Ramirez, a Unified Government Commissioner who represents District 3, said it’s inaccurate to say the ordinance makes Kansas City, Kansas a “sanctuary city.”
“That’s not why we’re fighting for these policies, it’s because we just want to be welcomed,” he said. “This law does not defy any federal or state rule, regulation or law.”
Rep. John Barker, an Abilene Republican who chairs the House Federal and State Affairs committee, said he had not yet read the bill and wasn’t sure if he would grant it a hearing in the last half of the Legislative session.
“I try to give preferential treatment to any state office holder,” Barker said. “Also I know I’ve probably got 40 bills in committee and some are scheduled and some I’ve promised hearings to.”
The ranking Democrat on the committee, Rep. Louis Ruiz from Kansas City, dismissed the bill as nothing more than campaign messaging from Schmidt.
“He’s running for governor and looking for something to stand on and attacking Wyandotte County is always something that people like to do in this Republican party,” Ruiz said. “He’s attacking a bill that would help minority races, Latinos and new immigrants. He wants to put a target on them.”
This story was originally published February 23, 2022 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Kansas AG Derek Schmidt proposes bill to block WyCo ‘Safe and Welcoming’ ordinance."
