A bill on the brink of becoming law in Kansas would incentivize local cooperation with federal immigration authorities and make it a crime to come within 25 feet of a first responder — including an ICE agent — after being ordered to back up.

The bill that lawmakers sent to Gov. Laura Kelly’s desk last week would remove the requirement that sheriff’s offices obtain county commission approval before entering into agreements with ICE.

That provision was bundled with another piece of legislation that First Amendment advocates warn would give law enforcement officers broad, subjective power to arrest people whom they deem to be distracting them from carrying out their duties.

ICE agents themselves would not be allowed to arrest people simply for approaching them under the proposed statute. Only state and local law enforcement officers could enforce the buffer zone. But the legislation is careful to identify federal officers of any agency as first responders — a definition that would be a first in Kansas law.

“The advantage to this is that if we have a situation like what’s happening up in Minnesota, for example, and you have people interfering with federal officers, then local officers can step in and deal with those people creating that interference because it’s now covered under state law,” said Ed Klumpp, a lobbyist for various Kansas law enforcement groups, during a March hearing.

The unlawful approach bill was introduced by Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican and gubernatorial candidate, a week after a second Minneapolis resident, Alex Pretti, was gunned down by federal immigration officers. Pretti and former Kansas City resident Renée Good were both killed in January.

There haven’t been any notable clashes between federal immigration officers and residents across the broader Kansas City region since the Trump administration embarked on its sweeping immigration crackdown.

Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, told lawmakers that the bill presents “a serious threat to First Amendment rights” — both for journalists and bystanders who have a right to film first responders in action.

“Journalists are often within that (25-foot) range while covering events and are often on scene before a perimeter is established. For them, and the public’s right to know, distance matters,” said Bradbury, who criticized the lack of clear, objective enforcement standards in the bill.

“Only the officer decides what’s necessary for safety, what counts as a distraction and even when someone has been told not to approach,” said Bradbury, who pointed out that Kansas already has laws against interfering with and assaulting officers.

Unlawful approach of a first responder

The bundled law enforcement bill passed the Republican-controlled Senate on a party-line 30-9 vote and was approved by the House 85-39 despite some GOP defections. It cleared the House with one more than the 84 votes that would be necessary to override a veto by Kelly.

The bill would make the unlawful approach of a first responder a misdemeanor offense punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.

The legislation is modeled after similar laws in Florida and Indiana that create buffer zones for first responders. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ban on the Indiana law as written last year, ruling it to be “unconstitutionally vague” and “susceptible to arbitrary enforcement.”

Under the Kansas version, someone could be arrested if their presence distracted a first responder from their duties and if the first responder had reason to believe that 25 feet of separation was “necessary for the safety of any person or property.”

The bill says someone could only be arrested after receiving “a visual or audible signal not to approach or remain within 25 feet” of an officer or another first responder. During the House floor debate, Rep. Nikki McDonald, an Olathe Democrat, questioned how that standard would be applied to blind and hearing-impaired people.

“Does the fix outweigh the loss of the freedoms that we’re enjoying?” McDonald asked from the well.

Rep. Bradley Barrett, an Osage City Republican who also works in the Shawnee County district attorney’s office, pushed back against opponents’ suggestion that the bill would be used to prevent people from filming law enforcement activities.

“That person one hundred percent has a right to record, twenty-five foot away. Twenty-five foot is not that far of a distance,” Barrett said, suggesting that police body cam footage could be helpful for determining in court whether a bystander was actually within 25 feet of a first responder when arrested.

Rep. Timothy Johnson, a Basehor Republican who spent three decades in law enforcement, commended the bill for authorizing first responders to assert their authority in chaotic environments.

“The ability to cover a short distance very quickly with a weapon is astounding,” Johnson said. “And so, by allowing public safety people that ability to have that distance can be a life-saver.”

Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Shawnee Democrat, pushed back against his assertion that the legislation is designed to protect local officers, not promote an agenda of immigration enforcement.

“Make no doubt about this. This is about immigration, because this bill would not be coming to us if it wasn’t for the Trump administration and his little army going all over the U.S. and in Kansas for immigration and trying to do all kinds of deportations,” Ruiz said.

Local cooperation with ICE

The bill would also make several significant changes to Kansas law regarding how local agencies coordinate with federal immigration authorities.

A Star investigation found that 28 Kansas law enforcement agencies and 48 Missouri agencies have entered into agreements with ICE, empowering local officers to make arrests of suspected noncitizens on behalf of the federal government.

Allowing sheriff’s offices to enter into such agreements without the prior authorization of county commissioners would be a notable departure from current practices and could make it more difficult to track local coordination with ICE.

The legislation would also shield agencies and individual officers from civil liability while deputized on behalf of ICE, requiring the attorney general’s office to represent local agents and officers implicated in civil rights lawsuits stemming from ICE action, and requiring the state to pay for ensuing damages not covered by the federal government.

According to the attorney general’s office, the expected caseload associated with immigration-related litigation would require Kansas to hire another assistant attorney general at $133,905 for salary and benefits in 2027, the bill’s fiscal note says.

The bill would also codify in statute that sheriff’s offices can detain suspected noncitizens for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released from custody upon the request of federal immigration authorities. Many Kansas sheriff’s offices already honor detainer requests from ICE, but doing so is voluntary, and nothing in the legislation would make it mandatory.

Rep. Brett Fairchild, a Saint John Republican, voted against the bill over the provision that would allow local law enforcement agencies to keep suspected noncitizens detained based on an administrative warrant rather than a judicial warrant signed by a judge. He characterized the practice as letting federal agents sign “their own written permission slip to deprive a person of their liberty.”

“The DEA, FBI, IRS — they all have to get judicial warrants, and so I don’t buy into the whole idea that it wouldn’t be possible for our immigration agencies also to obtain judicial warrants when every other government agency has to obtain them,” Fairchild said.

During the committee process, Rep. Heather Meyer, an Overland Park Democrat, offered an unsuccessful amendment that would have gutted the bill and replaced it with language forbidding ICE agents from covering their faces while conducting enforcement activities in Kansas. It would have also required them to drive marked vehicles and provide proof that they are federal officers upon request.

“Consider this,” Meyer said on the House floor. “You have an individual who walks up to you and says that they’re with ICE. They have an unmarked vehicle, they’re wearing a mask, they have no identification proving that they are an ICE agent.

“They are not required to have any of that on them,” Meyer said. “That is a problem. Someone could kidnap you, a family member, your children, anyone, from anywhere at this point.”

Reality Check Wichita

KS bill would criminalize ‘unlawful approach’ of first responders — including ICE

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