Earlier this summer, the Post asked our readers what issues you wanted to hear candidates in contested races address leading up to the Aug. 4 primary election.
Based on that feedback, we developed a five-item questionnaire centering the issues most important to residents across Johnson County.
Each day this week, we’ll publish the candidates’ responses to one question. So far, we’ve published responses on cost of living.
Today, we’re publishing candidates’ responses to the following question:
Immigration was the single most-raised topic this election cycle, and readers split sharply. Some want candidates to “fight against ICE” and the detention of immigrants without due process. Others list “border security” among their top priorities and ask whether candidates will cooperate with federal enforcement. What is your position on the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement? What does a well-functioning immigration system look like to you?
Below are the answers the Post received from candidates on the issue:
Pond Naramore (Republican)
Did not provide the Post with a response.
Roger Marshall (Republican, incumbent)
Did not provide the Post with a response.
Adam Hamilton (Democratic)
We need safe and secure borders. We should not be in a situation where people are paying smugglers to risk their lives to enter America in the shadows. We are a country that welcomes immigrants, but our broken immigration system has often made it more appealing for people to enter this country illegally than to work through legal mechanisms. It is safer for everyone to have one legal, well regulated pathway to certainty that vets potential immigrants to welcome the students and workforce that our economy needs to thrive.
We have to stop demonizing people. When people suggest that immigrants are mostly criminals, they’re stoking fear and putting real human beings in danger. We can enforce our laws fairly without people living in fear. The test I keep coming back to is the old Golden Rule: what would our immigration policy look like if we treated others the way we’d want our own families treated? I want to be a senator who reaches across the aisle to build a system like that, and who never forgets that an immigrant is also a child of God.
Years ago our family drove out to the airport to greet a refugee family that arrived with one suitcase apiece. That’s the America I love, the country that welcomed people looking for a future like my own Irish and German ancestors. I know we can make sure we have secure borders for our country, while treating people who are here looking for a better life fairly and with decency.
Jason Hart (Democratic)
As former Federal law enforcement, I have a unique perspective on this. My area of focus was child sexual exploitation matters, and the agents normally assigned to those cases were pulled off those cases to work immigration/“surge” operations. This occurred while the Trump administration claimed they were not diverting such resources. Aside from the deception, the usage of quotas and inexplicable targeting of “blue” cities evince a petulant application of law enforcement resources. The entire approach placed federal agents, many of whom are veterans of the military, in the unenviable position of trying to do their job while following the Constitution. This was made worse by introducing Border Patrol into US cities without adequate training on Fourth Amendment (Due Process) procedure. The entire approach by the Trump administration has been to make us less safe for the sake of maligning people who are mostly working the jobs that sustain our economies. The current administration has persistently moved the end-zone, removed the referees, or simply changed the rules. For me, a well-functioning immigration system would at least include clearly defined processes and objective metrics, such as applying at the border, connecting with a business or NGO sponsors, and maintaining five years of productive, registered employment without criminal intervention. Such system should provide a path for immigrants and refugees currently in the US. When I consider my own immigrant great-grandparents, they came here for a better life, and look what they produced: a public servant that prosecuted pedofiles for Kansans.
Kevin Latz (Democratic)
The militarization of ICE has not served our country. Immigrants bring significant economic vitality to our country . That being said, it needs to mean something to be an American citizen. Our immigration policy must serve our national interest. Barbara Jordan, one of my political heroes best summarized my views on this subject. “Those that should get in, get in: those who should be kept out are kept out: and those that should not be here will be requested to leave.
I am reminded of the words of Mathew 25 which state that how we treat strangers (immigrants) reflects how we treat Christ.
Erik Murray (Democratic)
The question correctly identifies the false choice facing Americans—do we have secure borders or a free for all? The reality is that we can have strong borders and a fully functioning immigration system that processes applicants faster and more efficiently which bolsters the rule of law. In today’s broken system even hardworking, tax-paying, “do everything the right way” immigrants are still having to wait years, and worse the prejudicial biases of bad actors within the current administration are selectively targeting certain countries and communities in an effort to violate peoples’ statuses as a pretext to the administration’s mass incarceration, for-profit schemes. The narrative that immigrants commit crimes at higher rates is untrue. Arresting and even deporting violent criminals has always been encouraged in U.S. policy and can be carried out by U.S. Marshalls, CBP, and other well trained federal law enforcement agencies that operate in transparent fashion. What this administration is doing is not about crime it is about cruelty. The fact that a combination of cruelty and profit motive would demonize hardworking communities and shred the U.S. Constitution, including killing American citizens, is unconscionable. Literally adding insult to injury is the fact that these are economically damaging decisions, as well. We’ve talked to Kansas farmers, small business owners, and service and healthcare industries that are reliant on immigrant labor and are suffering from impacts to both their workforce and their customers. Our campaign believes in uplifting humanity, respecting dignity, protecting our constitution, promoting rule of law, and bolstering our economy by ensuring a fully functioning immigration system and maintaining strong borders.
Anne Parelkar (Democratic)
As an Immigration Attorney, I have first-hand experience with our broken immigration system and it is one of the reasons I felt compelled to run for this office.
I’ve worked with clients who have had to wait more than 13 years for their application to be processed. I’ve seen families torn apart by ICE despite doing everything “right”. Recently I met two families who spent Father’s Day visiting their dads detained inside the Leavenworth CoreCivic detention center – both men were in the process of obtaining legal status, and neither had a criminal record.
We’ve seen deaths in ICE custody. We’ve seen both immigrants and American citizens killed in the streets, and flagrant violations of due process. It has to stop.
Demanding accountability from ICE and supporting border security are not mutually exclusive. Everyone, including immigrants, supports getting violent criminals off of our streets and not allowing them into our nation. Many immigrants are fleeing such violence in their home countries, which is why they end up here in the first place.
We need an overhaul of our immigration system so it is set up to serve the United States and not corporations who take advantage of the desperation of immigrant laborers. We need humane and common sense processing of applications with a focus on family unification and addressing critical workforce shortages. And we need a thorough investigation into ICE and its actions.
The American people need to understand and reconcile the truth of what is happening in our nation without the partisan spin on information designed to create animosity and keep us divided. And above all: immigration policy has to be humane again.
Noah Taylor (Democratic)
I believe immigrants are good for our state and that ICE is out of control. Too many politicians make it seem like you can’t believe that and also believe in strong borders – but you can. While in the military, I trained at Fort Huachuca on the Arizona-Mexico border. I’ve seen the challenges that border agents face. We need to be honest with ourselves that Democrats did not handle this issue well in the previous Administration.
That being said, ICE in its current form has lost the trust of the American people and needs to be overhauled from the ground up. We need to fix our broken immigration system, protect DREAMers, provide a pathway to legal status for the people who play a vital role in our economy, and fund smart border security to keep out violent criminals. A Kansas that works for all of us means all of us.
Christy Davis (Democratic)
We cannot downplay that upholding the Constitution fighting for our civil rights has become controversial because Roger Marshall and Trump decided to blame immigrants for problems that have nothing to do with immigration. I’ve never been afraid to say there is no justification for an immigration enforcement system that relies on fear, secrecy, and sham courts. We can secure our borders and have immigration enforcement without lying to the American people.
I support enforcing our immigration laws that we already have because they worked when Congress actually funded immigration courts and ensured there were resources for legal immigration to be done quickly and with due process. Instead we watched our system get overwhelmed as budgets were cut while immigrant labor continued to be exploited and people waited years for hearings.
A functioning immigration system means actually having border security, judges, and advocates we need, not rogue armed agents acting with impunity and rubber stamp political appointees whose only concern are deportation numbers. We can secure our borders, staff our courts, and focus enforcement on traffickers, violent criminals, and genuine threats to public safety, not hardworking families trying to build a better life.
While others have stayed silent, I chose to speak up. I’ll continue to fight for an immigration system that actually works rather than one that focuses on violence and harm for the sake of stats. We don’t have to abandon our values to enforce our laws. In America, our values are supposed to guide how we enforce them.
Patrick C. Schmidt (Democratic)
Did not provide the Post with a response.
Michael Soetaert (Democratic)
Did not provide the Post with a response.
Sandy Spidel Neumann (Democratic)
Did not provide the Post with a response.
Damon Anderson (Democratic)
Did not provide the Post with a response.
Coming up:
Tomorrow we will publish the candidates’ responses to the following question:
Among readers who raised elections as a concern, the mood ran strongly one way: distrust of President Trump’s continued false assertions that he won the 2020 election and fear that voting is being made harder to access. One reader wanted to know whether a candidate is “a 2020 election denier.” Another asked if you will “wimp out” when pressed on “who legitimately won the 2020 Presidential election.” Many tied their concerns over elections to ballot access, objecting to anything that would “make voting more difficult.” Do you accept that President Trump lost the 2020 election, and will you commit to accepting and certifying future results, including any your party loses? What, if anything, would you do to protect Kansans’ access to the ballot?
