KSHB 41 reporter Rachel Henderson covers neighborhoods in Wyandotte and Leavenworth counties. Share your story idea with Rachel.
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The Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, hosted a community listening session on immigration safety concerns after multiple community members came to the government asking them to address the topic.
"It has caused fear, anxiety and many questions from residents who live and call Wyandotte County home," said Irene Caudillo, chief of staff for KCK Mayor Tyrone Garner.
Garner was joined by two commissioners, the Wyandotte County sheriff, KCKPD police chief, county administrator and legal counsel on a panel to listen to community concerns Friday.
The audience was filled with community members, leaders of organizations, including Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR), whose executive director, Karla Juarez, spoke at Friday's meeting.
"Enact some policies to the extent that you're able, to be able to protect these communities," Juarez said at Friday's meeting.
On a day-to-day basis, the types of things Juarez hears concerns her.
"There's just a lot of misconceptions, a lot of misinformation, that it's hard to combat when it's loud," Juarez said. "The noise is loud."
That noise includes several phone calls her office gets throughout the day.
"Yeah, calls everyday," Juarez said. "Questions about whether I should go to the hospital or send my kid to school."
According to U.S. Census Bureau Data from 2022, 16.8% of Wyandotte County residents were born outside of the United States, which was higher than the national average of 13.6%.
"I'm also an immigrant, but with different experiences," Juarez said at Friday's session. "So listen to members of the community, continue having these listening sessions."
There's also a sense of confusion about how state or national policies impact people's daily lives Juarez says she and her colleagues work to address.
"People are not wanting to leave their homes," Juarez said. "The fear is really real."
AIRR — which serves on both sides of the state line — spoke to senators encouraging them to oppose SB58 and SB72, both of which involve immigration and raise safety concerns.
"If you're an immigrant, if you're well-connected to our immigrant community, you will hear that there's fear and anxiety," Juarez said.
President Donald Trump has been clear about his mass deportation strategy.
"We will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came," Trump said in a recent address on immigration.
In addition to speaking at meetings as advocates, AIRR also conducts "Know Your Rights" trainings, those of which Juarez says have increased since Trump took office.
"We've been in touch with a lot of national organizations who have legally analyzed all of executive orders, and some of them will do nothing," Juarez said. "So, they’re just causing fear and anxiety more than anything."
The lack of clarity surrounding these executive orders has left those here locally with many questions.
"In the past, it has been the position of KCKPD that they would not use resources or personnel to do ICE work? Is that still their position?" a representative from El Centro, another local advocacy and support group, asked at Friday's session.
The leaders in attendance say they're not prepared to answer questions until they gather more information, but that didn’t stop people from asking them.
Caudillo also shared that the UG has not officially met internally to discuss immigration concerns and that this fact also played into the fact that the UG currently has no comment on the matter.
Along with questions, speakers like Juarez also offered solutions.
"Speak out against the attacks on our community and the slander against the immigrant residents of Wyandotte County and this country," said Micah Kubic, with ACLU Kansas.
His suggestions included declining any new 287g agreements from ICE, which would voluntarily allow state and local law enforcement officers to assist ICE with their work locally.
He also encouraged the UG to speak out and use its voice, provide legal aid to immigrants and provide interpretation services.
"It's important that we all gather together and hear our concerns because they’re all the same," Juarez said.
Juarez says sitting and listening is a start. She's grateful that the listening session happened, but things can't end there, she says.
"We at AIRR though, want to see some action,"Juarez said. "We are hoping that the Unified Government does take some actual steps to be able to protect people."
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