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HAWVER: Has immigration faded as a Kansas issue?
By MARTIN HAWVER, At The Rail
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An interesting thing happened at the Kansas primary election last week: Immigration has apparently faded as a hot-button legislative issue in the 41 primary election races where it might have been argued. But, that might change.
Judging by the only debate for a seriously contested GOP nomination in Kansas for Congress, immigration (in its federal-only mirror image issue of “amnesty”) apparently either wasn’t a serious issue or was just so badly played by both candidates that most debate watchers figured it wasn’t a big deal.
While immigration mesmerized the most conservative House and Senate members in last spring’s Legislature, the issue stalled when businesses ranging from the umbrella groups such as the state Chamber of Commerce to narrower interest groups such as livestock and agricultural lobbies opposed it. Their message: It’s a federal issue, don’t put Kansas businesses out of business for accidentally hiring illegal immigrants for jobs that they need done. And, really, seriously don’t put those businesses out of business for that mistake, costing loss of jobs for U.S. citizens.
In several districts, candidates for their party’s nomination for the Legislature reported nobody this summer brought up immigration. And, in districts were it was brought up by potential voters, candidates generally said their concerns were that Kansas taxpayers’ money shouldn’t be spent on people who aren’t U.S. citizens and who shouldn’t be in the U.S. anyway.
Now, federal law requires that children in Kansas be educated in public schools and that people with serious injuries or illnesses get medical treatment. But Kansas really doesn’t know what it spends on any sort of programs for illegal immigrants, or undocumented aliens, maybe those who have out-stayed a visa or work permit.
That is likely to change later this year when the Kansas Legislative Post Audit Division is to complete an audit to determine whether Kansas really spends much money on services — except education and emergency health care — for non-citizens.
Kansans got a partial peek into the issue a month ago, when Post Audit learned that maybe one person who wasn’t a U.S. citizen had nearly received some benefit under a Medicaid program. The look-see cost thousands of dollars in administrative work by the state’s health care agency, but at least someone looked. It was an expensive peek, though.
On a broader scale, it’s going to be difficult to tell whether Kansas spends much money on people who really aren’t here legally, but if anyone can find out, it’s Post Audit. And the results are likely to be immediately politically charged — if the results arrive before the November general election. The detail and the specific questions that legislators want the audit to cover may push its completion beyond the election. But this is one better done right than done quickly.
What happened to immigration as an issue that mesmerized … well, either the public or just the news media?
It might have just faded in the brighter light of $4 gasoline or the general malaise of the economy and the housing market. Or, it might just have been an issue that is a bigger issue under the Statehouse dome than on the streets and behind voters’ doors in Kansas.
Upshot of immigration fading — unless both sides of the issue are fed the raw meat of an audit — may be that candidates at least for legislative seats talk about something they can actually do something about, like raise or lower taxes or fund or de-fund schools or maybe do something about health care.
But from the first test of whether immigration is a serious issue among Kansas voters, the indication is that if candidates are looking for a hot issue, it’s elsewhere.
Martin Hawver is publisher of Hawver’s Capitol Report. To learn more about this statewide political news service, visit the Web site at www.hawvernews.com.
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