KCK dad arrested by ICE is a good person, hard worker. We need more like him | Opinion

I write in regards to Luis Diaz Inestroza, the young man who was randomly stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Kansas City, Kansas, while driving his work truck and incarcerated. Many of us know of him from Selena Gomez’s Netflix series, “Living Undocumented.” From what I have read, there seems to have been no reason for him to be stopped as the result of a violation. Evidently, it was because of the color of his skin.

I know Luis and have worked with him on many construction projects. As senior minister at Unity Temple on the Plaza for 35 years, I hired him to perform many tasks at the temple. From big jobs such as building rooms to refinishing a door, with Luis and the crew he led, there has never been a single problem with anything. He was always kind, polite and well presented. His work was always exceptional and his prices were more than fair.

The staff at Unity Temple who came to know him held him in high regards and considered him a friend. In short, he is a good, hardworking, honest and likable father. He has now decided to leave the United States for his native Honduras. Our country needs more people like him, not fewer.

Imagine a football scout driving down the road, where he notices a group of young men playing football on a sand lot. One dark-skinned man stands out as exceptional at throwing the ball. The scout knows this athlete has the potential to become a star player in professional football. Would he report the person as a suspected violator of our immigration laws? Would the police come and cart him off to jail to await deportation?

No, I don’t think so. I believe the scout, and later the owner and coach of the team, would do everything possible to help the young man do what he needed to do to become a citizen.

Luis Diaz Inestroza will never be a star quarterback for an NFL football team. But he does know how to pound a nail, saw a board, put up a structure and many other construction jobs, with an exceptional skill and a deep seated inner desire to do good work and be a good person.

Luis truly is a beneficial presence to this city and this country. My advice to the “ICE coolers” — those ICE agents overzealous to arrest Luis and others like him — is to back off and leave him alone. In doing so, my fellow Kansas Citians and I will do all we can to gain him citizenship.

Duke Tufty is retired senior minister at Unity Temple on the Plaza in Kansas City.

This story was originally published August 19, 2025 at 5:01 AM.