Immigration: Kansas Democratic candidates for governor on Trump policies | Walker
Editor's Note: The Kansas City Star Editorial Board has been meeting with candidates in this year’s Aug. 4 primary. Most recently, we met in person with the three Democratic candidates vying for Kansas governor: Kansas State Sens. Ethan Corson, Cindy Holscher and Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog. Over the next few days, we will discuss main issues of importance to voters and candidates. Today: Immigration.
Concerns about immigration enforcement ramped up again this week after a shooting in Maine added to the growing death toll. The man fatally shot is reported who have been authorized to work in the United States. There were other assaults of U.S. residents in Maine, and we also saw a fatal shooting in Houston earlier this month. The candidates running for Kansas governor in the Democratic primary stand firmly against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Of the three, however, state Sen. Ethan Corson seems to have doubled down most recently with a June Facebook post and is distancing himself from a $1,000 contribution from CoreCivic, a detention center chain. State Sen. Cindy Holscher and Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog maintain strong ties to welcoming immigration policies.
Ethan Corson
Ethan Corson came out strongly against Trump’s immigration policies in a June Facebook post:
“Today’s lawsuit is the latest example of Donald Trump’s cruel immigration policies designed to harm our communities. In the state senate, I’ve kept my friends in mind when I’ve voted to protect access to education for all Kansans, and as governor I will not hesitate to stand up to Trump whenever he goes after our state and our people.”
Corson spoke at a gubernatorial debate in April about the issue, saying he looks at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention “through the eyes of an attorney,” and emphasized that when ICE is in Kansas, it must use legal methods, warrants and offer the right to counsel.
The Johnson County Post reported him saying: “Constituents don’t appreciate the indiscriminate way ICE has been acting. … I will never support a private prison building in Kansas, I will never support an ICE detention facility being built in Kansas. The city of Leavenworth got it absolutely wrong when they approved that facility.”
About that $1,000 contribution from CoreCivic — he talked about it at a March precinct committee meeting. The Star reviewed recordings from the meeting:
“As soon as we found out about the CoreCivic contribution, we contributed that same amount back to the community in the whole amount. … I have never accepted, and will never accept, campaign contributions from CoreCivic in my gubernatorial race.”
Corson said in a statement to The Star: “I do not support private prisons and I do not support having an ICE detention facility in Leavenworth. I want to be clear, I’m not bought and paid for by anyone. I only serve working families.”
Cindy Holscher
The state senator told The Star Editorial Board that she believes we need immigration reform.
“We have to have certain laws in place. We have to enforce our borders, prevent drugs from coming into our states and our streets. But what Trump and ICE have done is absolutely overreach and it’s wrong, to the point where people are being taken off the streets and denied due process.”
She said as governor, she would make sure suspects are given due process, and “that they’re not ripped away from their families, that we don’t have these tactics going on.”
She added that she will work legislatively as well as in the community to protect people.
“A few weeks ago, there was the threat of ICE coming to a Boys and Girls Club terrorizing children. I joined with a lot of my neighbors and stood outside that facility for over 3 1/2 hours. I’m not going to let them take my neighbors.”
She spoke directly to the issue of donations from CoreCivic:
“I’m not going to take donations from Core Civic. … I’m not going to do that, you know, because I don’t support private prisons. I do not support what ICE is doing. I’m not going to take money from private prisons tied to ICE.”
Curt Skoog
Overland Park Mayor Skoog described immigration to the Editorial Board as Kansas’ history.
“My forefathers came here six generations ago. … We need our kids and grandkids, and the kids who go to our universities to stay here and work here and raise their families here. But that’s not enough. We need to bring talent from across the country and across the world to Kansas to fill our jobs to support our communities just like they have from our founding in 1865.”
He talked about the roots of the family of his running mate, family physician Jen Bacani McKenney. “Dr. Jen’s dad came here from the Philippines about 15 years ago. He was recruited to Fredonia and he was going to be there for one year, because this general surgeon from the Philippines didn’t think that he would be interested in small-town Kansas, right? And he stayed 58 years.”
Skoog believes for Kansas to thrive, the state needs to attract immigrants.
“Everybody is welcome.”
