Recent ICE raid had unintended consequences too

While the Trump administration may see the recent United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in southwest Kansas as a success, many community leaders see it differently.

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, met with Dodge City community leaders Oct. 13 at Red Beard Coffee. About 25 community leaders from private industry and the public sector said the disruption created from the Sept. 22 to 24 was unnecessary and created challenges that could have been prevented if the Department of Homeland Security would have outlined its intentions with local law enforcement in advance.

ICE activity in Dodge City was described by Homeland Security Department as an arrest-warrant execution rather than broad workplace or community sweeps, but leaders questioned that assessment. During that time sweeps were occurring in Garden City and Liberal.

City Manager Nick Hernandez said he only knew about what happened when a Dodge City employee was stopped in a city pickup truck as ICE officers barricaded him.

“They got out of the vehicle and said, ‘I want to see your identification,’” Hernandez said and the employee complied.

ICE then showed the employee a photo and said, “Oh, by the way, have you seen this person?”

Hernandez said that’s when he knew it was not a traditional law enforcement process and that’s when he called Ford County Sheriff Bill Carr and Chief of Police Jared Goertzen who also were not aware of it. Goertzen said the agencies could have picked up some of the suspects with less disruption.

The raid caused 1,900 absentees during one day in local schools, when typically the district has about 250 a day, said Dodge City Superintendent of Schools Jason Scheck. The district has about 7,300 students.

Hernandez then called Kansas’ congressional delegation because he knew it was not a targeted operation.

Arrests made

On Sept. 29, U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser of the District of Kansas, Wichita, announced in a news release ICE agents made 104 arrests. The ICE agents arrested alien offenders with criminal histories including assault, domestic battery, aggravated battery, criminal threat, knowingly using a weapon to cause great bodily harm, disfigurement or death; criminal carrying of a weapon or concealed carry of a pistol or firearm; and fleeing or eluding law enforcement officers.

Local officials have also reached out to Kriegshauser’s office to get additional information particularly about discrepancies on arrests and detainees, but have had little feedback. Kriegshauser, in the Sept. 29 release, said Operation Safe Community-Kansas was a targeted operation to put some of the “worst of the worst” behind bars.

Local officials said there was no clear federal point of contact during or after the sweep. Law enforcement focused on public and officer safety amid threats, vehicle incidents, and community tension. Local officers stated that responding to 911 calls was misconstrued as assisting federal enforcement.

Moran said he did not know about ICE’s operation until his wife had told him about a Facebook post. Moran and fellow Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, both reached out to the Homeland Security Department.

Immediately they called Department of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin to ask what was going on and to indicate their concern about the lack of communication. Mullin said not disclosing the operation to local law enforcement was a mistake and the senators agreed. Mullin also told the senators that agents were not carrying out broad sweeps, but they were issuing warrants.

Unanswered questions

Moran said he has asked the department questions about the three-day sweep, but has not received any answers. Ford County Sheriff Bill Carr has asked questions, to no avail.

“I did talk to the chief of staff for Markwayne on a few occasions, and I’m still waiting for answers,” Carr said. “I’ve spoken to several higher-ups at DHS and still waiting for responses. Nothing has been corroborated. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years and never had these problems. We haven’t had hiccups (here), so to get treated like this at this level, it’s not good for our community. I’ll be the first to tell you I enforce the law. It’s black and white. If we have a problem internally, we address it.”

The city, county, chamber of commerce, and many other groups, have worked together, but ICE’s action compromised that bridge and it will take time to rebuild the foundation, the sheriff said.

Moran and the Kansas congressional delegation was supportive of arresting illegal immigrants who have committed serious crimes.

Broken process

Congress’ inability to pass long over-due comprehensive immigration reform has led to a system, Moran said. Many senators agreed that the broken border policy had led to many problems. He supported the Trump administration’s work for changing that narrative with enforcement actions particularly on the border of Mexico, adding it makes sense to have a long-term policy.

Several community leaders spoke of a broken process that prevents people from becoming United States citizens, particularly for those who have been misled or scammed out of thousands of dollars. Also, they said western Kansas needs workers, particularly in the agriculture sector. Moran agreed.

Dodge City vice mayor Michael Burns encouraged Moran to seek bipartisan solutions to fix immigration. Burns says that is the best path going forward.

Moran said unfortunately that finding bipartisan support on immigration and many issues is difficult as the country has become partisan and divided. As an example, he knows that he and Marshall also took criticism from constituents for their comments that followed the raid.

“I refuse to give up,” he said. “We have to work harder and work together. We need to have constituents tell us, ‘that’s what we want.’”

He agreed with Burns that Congress should try again to find a long-term immigration policy.

“My intentions in being here was to indicate that I admire efforts of those who have helped others integrate into our communities,” Moran said. “I want to be a part of whatever power you want me to use to try to restore the trust that I’m quite certain is diminished, if not lost.”

Scheck remembers one statement from an ICE officer who said the agency could return unannounced at a future time. Scheck and Carr both said that remark is an important concern they wanted to share with Moran.

The senator also said he wanted to see the Immigration and Natural Services to have its regular mobile service unit restored so it can serve southwest Kansas. The Kansas delegation supports it and believes in its importance because it can help people who are wanting to get their status on the right track but are trapped because they lack the paperwork and have an inability to travel.

Dave Bergmeier can be reached at 620-227-1822 or [email protected].