Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach announced today that Attorney General’s Office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that will allow KBI agents to work with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to remove criminal illegal aliens from Kansas. Kansas is one of the first states in the nation to enter such an agreement.
“All across Kansas, illegal aliens who are dangerous criminals or gang members are released back to the streets on a regular basis. That will end. This agreement will ensure that those criminals are deported,” Kobach said.
The Kansas move comes as President Trump’s deportation policies are being defied in some states and embraced by some cities within states whose governors say they won’t comply. Dallas interim police chief MIchael Igo said this week his officers won’t assist federal agencies form deporting illegals in his city. Igo made the comments at meeting last Wednesday which was one of several scheduled across the city. Backlash to the message at the Wednesday meeting caused the postponement of a similar gathering set for Thursday, according to the Washington Examiner.
Twenty-six state governors in December publicly pledged to support the president’s efforts to deport illegal migrants. A map of those states published in a December Newsweek article numbered Kansas Governor Laura Kelly among those who wouldn’t comply with Trump’s executive orders. The governor’s office has no direct authority over the independently-elected Attorney General or the KBI agents under the office’s direction.
Under the terms of the agreement, a limited number of KBI agents will receive ICE training that authorizes the agents to arrest illegal aliens, to serve and execute warrants for some immigration violations, and to issue immigration detainers. The agreement doesn’t affect the Kansas Highway Patrol, which is under the authority of the governor.
Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes states and political subdivisions of a state to enter into such agreements, Kobach’s office said.
“The KBI is pleased to have another tool at our disposal to get known criminal offenders out of our communities,” KBI Director Tony Mattivi said. “This agreement will not shift KBI investigative priorities but will allow us to more swiftly achieve justice in cases in which the KBI currently focuses – major violent crimes, crimes committed against children, and targeting drug trafficking organizations.”
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
