Is Kansas' AG a citizen? It might be time to ask

Here’s a quick question for you today. Is Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach a U.S. citizen?

I’m just asking.

It seems a reasonable question given the insulting intimidation directed toward Lenexa City Council member Melanie Arroyo after a tipster left a voicemail at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The KBI forwarded the information to Lenexa police, who forced the people’s elected representative to show them her papers. Surely Kobach can do the same for Kansans. You know, just to put our minds at rest.

Turns out that Arroyo had testified in February against Senate Bill 254, legislation that would have barred undocumented students from receiving in-state college tuition rates. She also wrote an op-ed column for the Kansas City Star about her experiences. In both testimony and column, she mentioned overstaying her visa but noted her status had been resolved.

So what on Earth was there to investigate?

What obligates the KBI — overseen by Kobach — to decide a random voicemail is worthy of Lenexa police’s attention? Surely they don’t forward every random call that comes in. Surely their actions don’t have anything to do with Arroyo’s name or ethnicity or public opposition to anti-migrant propaganda. Surely.

Kansas Reflector editor Sherman Smith‘s must-read story suggests that all agencies and officials involved have tried to pass the buck.

KBI spokeswoman Melissa Underwood said the agency doesn’t investigate immigration questions, so “the information was sent to the Lenexa Police Department for follow-up as they deemed appropriate.” Lenexa city attorney Sean McLaughlin tried to dodge responsibility too, saying a city ordinance required citizenship for officeholders. Police were just doing their jobs, even though there wasn’t any evidence to suspect Arroyo of anything.

“Just because evidence doesn’t exist doesn’t mean we don’t investigate,” McLaughlin told Smith.

What kind of Kafkaesque nonsense is this?

Here’s my challenge to state and local law enforcement. If there’s no threshold at all, if agents can be dispatched to harass public officials based on innuendo, let’s welcome more elected lawmakers to the party. They can hop into Arroyo’s shoes and see how they like it.

I ask once again: Do we actually know that Kobach is a U.S. citizen?

He might be one, sure. It even looks likely, based on his biography and multiple terms in public office. One assumes that Gov. Laura Kelly’s opposition research team would have ferreted out any scandals back in 2018.

But we don’t know for sure.

I haven’t seen his birth certificate. He wrote a book about South Africa and studied overseas, at Oxford University in Great Britain. And notably, in his testimony supporting SB 254, he doesn’t make his U.S. citizenship absolutely clear. If that was a problem for Arroyo’s testimony — as McLaughlin suggested — surely it should be a red flag for Kobach’s.

Surely, sufficiently suspicious law enforcement officials would find reason to investigate, right? After all, they would just be asking for Kobach’s papers. That wouldn’t be a big deal, given that all of us carry around copies of our birth certificates at all times. It would sure be a relief for the rest of us to know that our attorney general is actually a citizen of the United States.

Kobach endorsed just this approach back in 2010. Then he was calling on President Barack Obama to release a detailed version of his birth certificate.

“It doesn’t have a doctor’s signature on it,” Kobach said, according to the Associated Press’ John Hanna. “Look, until a court says otherwise, I’m willing to accept that he’s a natural U.S. citizen. But I think it is a fair question: Why just not produce the long-form birth certificate?”

If you have read through all the above and think I’m full of it, fair.

But if you believe that Arroyo and Kobach are clearly different, that asking for papers from one makes sense while asking for papers from the other sounds silly, ask yourself why. One elected official enjoys the benefit of the doubt. The other elected official doesn’t.

One will go to the office tomorrow and never have to wonder about being racially profiled. He will enjoy institutional support from his state and party.

The other official will face uncertainty and fear, the knowledge that earning citizenship and winning office the “right way” counts for nothing when an anonymous message can threaten her livelihood.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.