Kelly’s signature hurts Wyandotte County, and Kansas, in ways we’ll see soon enough

Gov. Laura Kelly’s decision to sign a bill blocking parts of Wyandotte County’s Safe and Welcoming City Act immigration ordinance is wrong-headed and deeply disappointing.

It’s highly political, of course. Kelly apparently thinks throwing Kansas conservatives a bone will satisfy their ravenous hunger to make the state unsafe and unwelcoming. She’s wrong, disastrously so.

Does anyone believe a single Kansas conservative will flip his or her vote to Kelly because the governor signed this atrocious bill? Of course not. At the same time, the governor’s signature will dishearten her supporters in one of the state’s only Democratic areas.

Wyandotte County passed the Safe and Welcoming ordinance in February after years of discussion and debate. The measure established a municipal ID for some 30,000 residents who lack such documentation, and set reasonable limits on how KCK police could interact with federal immigration officials.

As we said last year, undocumented immigrants need assurance their information won’t be handed to the feds before signing up for the ID. Seems reasonable enough.

Not for Kansas lawmakers, of course. They immediately began working to nullify the local ordinance: “No municipality,” the law says, “shall enact, implement or enforce an ordinance, resolution, rule or policy that prohibits or in any way restricts a law enforcement officer” from cooperating with federal officials on immigration matters.

(Contrast this law, by the law, with Missouri’s statute prohibiting local police cooperation with the feds on gun-related investigations. We sure wish conservatives would make up their minds.)

Kelly could have sent a strong signal to immigrant communities — and local officials across the state — that she would resist this nonsense. But no.

“I prefer the straightforwardness of ‘I’m going to stab you in the front,’ to ‘I’ll stab you in the back,’“ tweeted community activist Marcus Winn.

This isn’t an isolated incident, at least as far as the residents of Wyandotte County are concerned. First, lawmakers divided the county in two for congressional redistricting, diluting the county’s votes. It split the county into three parts for state board of education elections. Now this.

It isn’t a secret why the state enthusiastically punishes Wyandotte County. It’s the most diverse urban county in the state — 30% of residents are Hispanic, and 22% are Black. It’s also poor: 17% of its residents live in poverty.

Poor and diverse? A perfect target for conservatives.

Kelly won Wyandotte County by 42% in 2018. She has betrayed every one of those voters by signing this anti-safe, anti-welcoming measure.

That betrayal will have practical, real-world ramifications. At the time Kelly and the Democrats should be working to increase enthusiasm and energy, they have instead given Wyandotte Countians every reason to stay home.

It’s hard to see Kelly winning reelection without a strong turnout in Wyandotte County. Rep. Sharice Davids, already facing a difficult gerrymander, will face a similar dilemma.

And what about the vote in August on the abortion amendment, which seeks to put Kansas women under the control of the white men in Topeka? Wyandotte County voters will be key in stopping the amendment’s atrocity. Now they’re being told their views don’t matter.