Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Former Kansas Secretary of State Running New Type of Immigration Scam

Let me introduce you to Kris Kobach, who was the former Kansas secretary of state before he flamed out and lost a gubernatorial race in Kansas to Democrat Laura Kelly.  Even Republicans in Kansas voted against Kobach, having had enough of his extremism, especially when it came to immigration and voting rights.

After all, Kobach was the architect of the most racist law in modern American history, Arizona’s S.B. 1070, which allowed police to stop people of color and/or anyone with an accent and detain them indefinitely, including children, until they prove their citizenship. A family could be going out for ice cream and find themselves in an Arizona jail indefinitely unless they carried the proper paperwork.

Kobach had hoped to spread these laws nationwide. As local governments were convinced to pass these laws, they were (obviously) found to be unconstitutional-- but guess who was hired to come in and defend these laws during the legal process?  That's right-- Kris Kobach privately billed these towns for his legal services after they were hoodwinked into enacting his poisonous legislation. The Kansas City Star interviewed people who’d been swindled by Kobach’s immigration racket.

“Ambulance chasing” is how Grant Young, a former mayor of Valley Park, describes Kobach’s role. Young characterized Kobach’s attitude as, “Let’s find a town that’s got some issues or pretends to have some issues, let’s drum up an immigration problem and maybe I can advance my political position, my political thinking and maybe make some money at the same time.”

More details on this scam-- and how Kobach is getting cozy with white nationalists-- can be found at the Daily Kos.
 

 

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