By Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A coalition of Kansas House Democrats sought passage of a bill Thursday requiring U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents operating in Kansas to forego warrantless raids, undergo the equivalent of a 14-week law enforcement training program and clearly identify themselves in public.
The legislators outlined the bill, and an accompanying resolution, drafted in response to the “violent and hostile presence” of ICE officers deployed in the United States. The bill asserted ICE, whenever operating inside Kansas, would have to follow standards of conduct set for the state’s law enforcement personnel. Democrats demanded ICE respect individual constitutional rights and that the agency be held accountable when people were injured or killed in ICE custody.
“They’re f***ing with our constitutional rights. That’s my on-the-record statement,” said Rep. Alexis Simmons, D-Topeka. “ICE has been — How should I put this? — abusive. They’ve been incredibly abusive towards citizens and immigrants and the undocumented.”
Under the bill, ICE personnel would be prohibited from conducting door-to-door raids of residential dwellings and from sweeping places of worship, schools, hospitals, daycare centers and courthouses in Kansas without a judicial warrant. In Kansas, ICE wouldn’t be able to deploy surveillance tools without a court order.
ICE agents serving in Kansas, under the Democrats’ bill, would have to complete a training regimen matching the state’s 14-week program for law enforcement officers. ICE officers in the state would have to display identification on uniforms, clearly mark vehicles and verbally identify themselves when asked. ICE agents couldn’t wear a mask or other facial covering when deployed in Kansas.
The bill and the resolution, which accused ICE of engaging in “violent, militarized and hostile” behavior during the immigration crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump, have a slim chance of being passed by the Republican-dominated House and Senate.
Rep. Melissa Oropeza, D-Kansas City, said legislators reviewing the resolution and bill should place at the center of their thought process the experience of people scrutinized by ICE.
“This is about human dignity,” Oropeza said. “This is about snatching people off the streets and not giving them their Fourth Amendment rights. This is about the core of what the United States is for us in general.”
Rep. Angela Martinez, D-Wichita, said it was important to constituents in her predominantly Hispanic district that the state’s congressional delegation — five Republicans, one Democrat — be convinced to advocate for federal immigration reform.
“It’s been three decades since they’ve done anything,” she said. “Immigration is a federal issue, but we’re feeling it in our schools, in our communities and in our neighborhoods, our workplaces. There’s a lot of fear. Get registered to vote. The midterms are coming and we got to put the right people in office who care about people.”
In mid-January, U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, said Americans understood hypocrisy of the Democratic Party’s contention that President Barack Obama dealt effectively with immigration as “deporter in chief” and that Trump didn’t have a handle on the issue. Marshall said liberals were infected by “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” He also said Trump understood Minnesota had significant problems with immigrants who didn’t have proper documentation to be in the United States.
“But, at the end of the day, we’re all so glad that we have a president that’s putting our safety, our security first, and even trying to take care of the pocketbook as well,” Marshall said. “Certainly, we understand how much money, how much fraud is going on in Minneapolis right now, in Minnesota, and a lot of that is by illegal immigrants as well. So, we have President Trump’s back, and we’re grateful for all the ICE officers in there risking their lives.”
The Kansas House and Kansas Senate adopted resolutions in 2024 urging Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly to be prepared to deploy the Kansas National Guard in service of Trump’s enforcement of federal immigration law.
In 2025, the Kansas Senate approved a resolution calling upon Kelly to fully comply with Trump’s agenda on immigration.
Shawnee Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Democrat, attempted in January to amend a House bill to say ICE had “no jurisdiction or power within the state of Kansas or its political subdivisions.” She sought to include ICE in a bill offered by Republican Rep. Rebecca Schmoe of Ottawa declaring the United Nations and World Health Organization had no power in Kansas. It was the first bill considered by the House during the 2026 legislative session.
“Of course, it was not passed,” Ruiz said of her amendment. “We have to get people’s attention. There are so many of our people that have no voice. For them to be used as a group to win political points is just indescribable. It is so inhumane. It’s cruel. We are going to take every opportunity we can to speak up for our people.”
The House resolution related to ICE endorsed by the coalition of Democrats wouldn’t clear the legislative process without support from Republican allies of Trump, said Rep. Ford Carr, D-Wichita.
He said Kansas legislators ought to appreciate that the conduct of ICE resembled slave patrols of the last century that operated to capture Black people who couldn’t prove they were free.
“If they caught you and you didn’t have your papers, or you couldn’t tell them who you belonged to, who can speak for you, then you would then be picked up and carted off,” Carr said. “We can’t change the world, but we can certainly make changes in the state of Kansas. So, this is my cry. This is my message. This is my ask for my Republican colleagues: Stand up. Know your history. Stand with us. We know this isn’t right and it shouldn’t be taking place.”
