Mother Jones once referred to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach as “The Nativist Son”. They did so linking to his authorship and support of legislation around the country, notably SB1070 in Arizona and the proposed dual-track voting system in Kansas, as means to disenfranchise voters and go after new immigrants.
Kobach’s stance has earned him a lot of praise with the Trump administration, who made him the chair of their voting suppression committee and even managed to put Trump Jr. in Kansas to host a fundraiser for his gubernatorial run last night.
Today, though, Kris Kobach has finally run into a situation where he has to break with the President, and it is exactly what you’d expect: Trump is simply not cruel enough on Haitian refugees, suggesting the right path is to quickly round them up and give them the boot. Franco Ordonez covers for McClatchy the situation:
www.kansascity.com/…
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has made immigration enforcement a core part of his pitch in his run for governor, is criticizing his ally Donald Trump, charging that the White House failed a “big test” on immigration by moving too slowly to end special deportation protections for nearly 60,000 Haitians.
Kobach, who writes for Breitbart News, told the hard-right outlet that a decision to give Haitian nationals 18 months to remain in the United States despite terminating their protected status, known as Temporary Protected Status, undermined the Trump administration’s immigration principles.
In an interview with Brietbart — who, it should be noted, also hires Kobach as a guest writer — Kobach offers this insight:
www.breitbart.com/...
When Congress wrote the TPS law, they stated quite clearly that as soon as a TPS designation is not renewed, the aliens have 60 days before the decision takes effect. Not 18 months. I’m pleased that Secretary Duke ended the TPS designation for Haiti, but the law does not permit her to choose any effective date she wishes. The law is quite clear. It must be 60 days, not 18 months.
And continues:
“The fact that people are talking about finding a ‘permanent solution’ illustrates that they see TPS as de facto amnesty because they’re looking for a way to keep TPS recipients in the United States,” Kobach said. “That is a gross abuse of our laws. TPS was never intended to be used like this.”
Haitian refugees journeyed to the United States after a devastating earthquake in 2010, when they were given Temporary Protected Status. The status has long been granted to individuals fleeing oppressive regimes, natural disasters, or wartorn areas. Prior, the administration made a similar move on those who had fled war-torn Nicaragua. The result? Tens of thousands could become undocumented immediately.
edition.cnn.com/...
When their protected status expires, individuals living in the US under those protections will revert to the status they would have had otherwise or the status they applied for in the interim, meaning thousands could become undocumented overnight if they do not leave or qualify for residency another way.
Kobach, however, isn’t interested in making sure that a path can be secured to get home, instead, he’s focused on the clock. 60 days to get out of the country, he contends, and anything else shows President Trump is far too lenient.
I doubt it came up at his dinner with Trump Jr. But, if he’d like to discuss it with others, there will always be a table at A Taste of Haiti in Lawrence open.