Protect Immigrants!

We saw SB 254 in 2025, a xenophobic attempt to surveil and take away benefits from immigrants, like in-state tuition and SNAP assistance, benefits that some residents are eligible for even without US citizenship.

Last week, the Senate voted it through. This week, it was assigned straight to the House floor, where it won't need to go through a prior committee hearing. This chicanery is all too prevalent this year. House leadership is expected to try and ram this attack on immigrants through imminently.

As ICE seeks to expand detention capacity in our region, SB 254 would help lay the groundwork for that expansion. By increasing verification, information-sharing, and barriers to public life, the bill risks funneling more people into enforcement systems by making them more visible, more isolated, and more vulnerable. Laws like SB 254 often function as part of a broader pipeline that makes detention and deportation easier by cutting people off from education, legal protections, and community stability.

Kansas was born in resistance to injustice. Our state earned the name “Free State” because Kansans rejected systems that divided people into categories and denied opportunity based on color and culture. This bill moves Kansas in the opposite direction. It expands state power in ways that harm families, destabilize communities, and betray our legacy of freedom, fairness, and equal treatment under the law.

SB 254 is unnecessary, costly, and morally corrosive. Kansas can and must do better.

Contact your Kansas State Representative now and ask them to vote NO on SB 254.