Lenexa City Councilmember Melanie Arroyo revealed Tuesday that she was recently asked to prove her citizenship to local police after an anonymous caller questioned her immigration status.
Arroyo recounted the experience publicly for the first time at the Lenexa City Council meeting on Tuesday night. She said that Lenexa Police requested proof of her citizenship after the Kansas Bureau of Investigation passed along a concern from an anonymous caller who questioned her eligibility to hold public office.
The anonymous complaint followed an opinion piece Arroyo wrote for the Kansas City Star in March in which she argued for allowing undocumented students in Kansas to pay in-state tuition rates at Kansas colleges, Arroyo said.
Arroyo, who was elected to the city council in 2021 and previously announced she is not seeking reelection this year, was born in Mexico and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2018.
She used her experiences as an immigrant as an example in the Star column. She wrote that she came to the U.S. legally but overstayed her visa when she was in high school. Despite that, she said in the op-ed that she was able to graduate from college, have her immigration status resolved and get a job as a licensed therapist and counselor because Kansas allows undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates in college.
The piece resulted in a person leaving a voicemail at the KBI’s Lenexa office concerning Arroyo because of “public testimony she gave related to her immigrant background,” Melissa Underwood, a spokesperson for KBI, said in an email to the Johnson County Post.
“The caller requested someone check if she was able to hold office due to her status,” Underwood said. “Since the KBI does not typically investigate immigration-related matters, unless there is another alleged criminal violation, the information was sent to the Lenexa Police Department for follow-up as they deemed appropriate.”
Lenexa police chief called Arroyo
After the KBI handed the case down to the Lenexa Police Department, Arroyo said Lenexa Police Chief Dawn Layman called her on July 25 to let her know that a detective would be reaching out to her to request proof of her citizenship. The conversation was friendly, Arroyo added.
“Just to highlight how casual, in a way, this conversation was: In the moment, she gave me the option to just email a copy of any sort of document I may have that proves my citizenship, and honestly, I have nothing to hide. So I said, ‘No, you know what? I will show you in person,'” she said during Tuesday’s meeting.
After getting off the phone with Layman, Arroyo said she contacted some friends, who felt uncomfortable about the request, which made her reflect on it.
“I was not alarmed, but at the same time, I could not quite discern the multitude of emotions I felt in that moment,” she said. “Later, I started to recognize that the reason why this felt uncomfortable was because I was being asked to show my papers, and many people with an immigrant background would know that this carries a lot of political and historical weight.”
Following that, Arroyo hired a lawyer, who spoke with Bill McCombs, the Lenexa detective assigned to the case, about how they should proceed. After Arroyo and her lawyer provided proof of citizenship, the case was closed on July 29.
“We were able to determine that she is in fact legally qualified to hold the position of Lenexa City Councilmember. This information was communicated to the citizen who first brought the concern to the KBI. That was the end of our involvement in this matter,” Lenexa Master Police Officer Danny Chavez, a department spokesperson, said in an email to the Johnson County Post.
Both the Lenexa Police Department and city officials clarified that outside of this particular case, they do not investigate the immigration status of Lenexa residents.
“Harm was already done,” Arroyo said
Arroyo, who maintained through her speech that she was not trying to shame Layman or the police department, felt like Lenexa didn’t understand the stress they caused her.
“At this point, the emotional and mental harm was already done, especially because at no point throughout the process was there any acknowledgement of the invasive nature of this request, or no consideration of verifying this case in a way that didn’t create discomfort or tension in my professional relationship with the Lenexa Police Department,” she said.
At the end of the two-hour meeting, Layman came to the podium and publicly apologized to Arroyo for how she approached her.
“I apologize if I made you feel that way. That was not my intent, and I think we worked together for a very long time, that I was trying to make things easier for you in the long run, I would welcome some additional conversation on this, since this is pretty much the first time I’m hearing about it today,” she said.
City defends asking Arroyo questions
Lenexa City Attorney Sean McLaughlin spoke at Tuesday’s meeting and said the city was required to address concerns that Arroyo’s status as a city councilmember was not in line with Lenexa City Code 1-3-A-3, which requires councilmembers to be “Qualified Electors.”
As defined by Lenexa City Code 1-1-D-4, that means, in part, that they must be United States citizens.
“The individual reporting the concern stated that Councilmember Arroyo did not acknowledge naturalization in the testimony,” he said, referencing Arroyo’s Star column. “That individual pointed to the city’s ordinance, which requires that all councilmembers be qualified electors, which in turn requires that they’re United States citizens.”
The city had to follow through with the inquiry, McLaughlin said.
“While we did not assume there was a concern with Councilmember Arroyo’s naturalization, we felt we had no choice but to investigate the matter because it is in the city’s obligation to ensure compliance with our own ordinances,” he said.
While McLaughlin acknowledged Arroyo’s feelings, he defended how the city conducted itself.
“We conducted a standard investigation, as we would in any case, regardless of the individuals involved,” he said. “While it’s clear that Councilmember Arroyo feels we did not handle this in the right way, at the end of the day, city staff did exactly what is expected, and we stand behind our actions.”
Arroyo issued a call to action
While Arroyo said she initially considered staying quiet about the matter, she felt compelled to speak out after federal Homeland Security Investigations agents with ICE raided the El Toro Loco restaurant in Lenexa on July 30, the day after the investigation into her citizenship was closed.
“I considered having a private conversation about this situation with the city, but I’m making it public in the hopes that other municipalities hear my story and act to prevent the situation from happening to them,” she said.
While Arroyo said it would be unreasonable for the city council to discuss potential legislation at that meeting, she encouraged them to look into ways that would prevent Lenexa residents from being investigated like she was and protect vulnerable populations in the city.
“I would like to ask the city council to please support any viable measures we can put in place to protect our community from these wasteful reports, to continue to support the values of integrity and honor for our police department,” she said.
Other councilmembers shared their support
After Arroyo spoke, five city councilmembers expressed their surprise at the investigation and support for her.
“Melanie, I had no idea this happened until just now,” said Councilmember Courtney Eiterich. “I hear you. I see you. I’m frustrated that someone would do that to you.”
Admitting that he was still processing what Arroyo said, Councilmember John Michael Handley expressed a need for safety in Lenexa.
“You should feel safe at home, in your community and at work, and civil service, as Melanie has done for so long, is work,” Councilmember John Michael Handley said. “She should feel safe to come here and do that work for all of Lenexa. She should feel safe in Lenexa; all of us should.”
Closing out the city council’s responses, Mayor Julie Sayers said she will work with the city on addressing issues to avoid what Arroyo experienced.
“The thing that we can be proud of as Lenexans is that we always stand together as a governing body, as a staff. We don’t point fingers at one another. We figure out problems together. We will do that with this,” she said. “If there’s something to be learned, we will have the conversation and we will learn it. And that’s my assurance to you, as the leader among this governing body and as our conduit for our staff, that we continue to have conversations to ensure that this never happens anymore.”
About 25 people spoke in support of Arroyo
Following the city council’s remarks, about 25 members of the public spoke in support of Arroyo, including Jen Hill, of Roeland Park, one of Arroyo’s eighth grade teachers.
“These claims are not only entirely unfounded, they are a blatant attempt to discredit her based on her ethnicity, rather than recognizing the immense value of her service and her character,” she said. “Melanie is a U.S. citizen. She is fully qualified to hold the position to which she was elected, and she has done so with professionalism, empathy and integrity beyond her role in public service.”
Several speakers spoke of their Hispanic and Mexican background and their discomfort with Arroyo being asked for proof of citizenship.
“Let me tell you, anybody who is a Latino, we all feel like we’re targeted everywhere you go,” said state Rep. Susan Ruiz, a Shawnee Democrat. “If something like this … has never happened to you, you don’t understand where it hits you. It hits us to our core, and it makes us feel like we don’t belong.”
Magaly Nieves, of Lenexa, who said she is the daughter of a Puerto Rican immigrant, detailed her own fears of being asked for her citizenship documents. She pushed Sayers to adopt new rules to avoid other city councilmembers from having their citizenship investigated.
“Make a law that says, ‘If you’re running for office in Lenexa, you have to prove your citizenship.’ That way, this is never a phone call to be made ever, ever, ever again,” she said.
