New York Times
By John Eligon
July 13, 2013
Over the past several months, Kris W. Kobach, Kansas’ staunchly conservative secretary of state, has seen numerous Republicans tack toward the center on immigration policy.
He watched a Senate debate that resulted in an immigration overhaul bill that largely ignored the strict enforcement measures he has spent a career championing across the country: denying utilities, housing and public education to illegal immigrants, and using local law enforcement to catch them.
Moderation on immigration, some Republicans say, is vital to the future of the party if it hopes to remain relevant in a country of shifting demographics. But even if public sentiment and electoral math on immigration might be bending away from his principles, Mr. Kobach is not budging.
“Any politician who thinks, ‘Oh, we just cast one vote, and then all of a sudden this demographic group comes flocking to us,’ they’re being superficial Washington idiots,” Mr. Kobach said.
In his third year as secretary of state, Mr. Kobach continues to make immigration a centerpiece of his work, even when it is far outside the boundaries of the office he was elected to. As the immigration debate moved last week to the more conservative House, he hoped to find a more receptive audience as he tried to insert his beliefs into the national dialogue.
His supporters say he is succeeding in such efforts; his detractors call him old news.
An Ivy League-educated lawyer, Mr. Kobach, 47, helped write the Arizona immigration law that gave local law enforcement officers the right to check the status of people they suspect are in the country illegally. The first legislation he pushed when he took office was a bill to require Kansans to show identification when they vote and to prove their citizenship when they register. It passed easily.
Other efforts have been less successful. He has proposed measures — all of which have failed — to repeal the awarding of in-state college tuition for illegal immigrants; to require businesses to verify their workers’ immigration status; and to give local law enforcement officers the right to check the status of people they suspect to be in the country illegally, similar to the Arizona law.
Some say the proof of citizenship measure could be in jeopardy, since the Supreme Court recently struck down a similar law in Arizona.
“He seems determined to ignore his growing irrelevance,” said Melinda Lewis, a public policy consultant for El Centro Inc., a social services organization in the Kansas City area. “The sheer futility of his policy ideas has made him largely irrelevant in the Congressional debate.”
But Mr. Kobach has felt emboldened by a federal appeals court decision last month upholding a Nebraska town’s ordinance that prohibits landlords from renting to illegal immigrants and requires employers to verify the status of new workers — a case he litigated.
He is also hoping for victory in another case he brought, challenging President Obama’s program to suspend deportations for illegal immigrants who entered the country as children. A federal judge in Texas, who issued a preliminary decision favorable to Mr. Kobach’s side, is expected to rule soon on whether to temporarily halt the program.
Although Mr. Kobach has strongly opposed the kind of amnesty critics say the Senate bill offers, the bill also included a measure he has long advocated — requiring all employers to use an electronic database to verify the legal eligibility of new workers.
And in the more conservative House of Representatives, Mr. Kobach sees a place for his policies. Already, the chamber has considered measures to give state and local authorities immigration enforcement authority, and to make it a crime to remain in the country illegally.
Mr. Kobach has the heft of a power forward, but can flash a toothy smile and is eager to talk about his outdoorsy ways. He is an avid mountain biker and hunter; the heads of two deer he killed with a bow are on a wall in his office.
“A lot of folks that hate him, if they were forced to have a conversation with him about something nonpolitical for an hour, they’d find that they actually like the guy,” said Scott Schwab, a Republican state representative.
Hundreds of protesters rallied in front of Mr. Kobach’s home in suburban Kansas City recently, and although Mr. Kobach and his family were not home, he was angered. Referring to the incident, he told Fox News: “It’s important we recognize there’s a reason we have the Second Amendment. There are situations like this where you have a mob, and you do need to be able to protect yourself.”
Mr. Kobach, in an interview, said that he was only giving a hypothetical response to the reporter’s question about whether the Second Amendment could apply in that situation, and that he would not have brandished a gun if he had been there. But he is not shy about speaking bluntly.
He coined and continues to promote the “self-deportation” philosophy — make life so onerous for illegal immigrants that they leave on their own — even as many analysts say Mitt Romney’s support and use of the term cost him Hispanic votes in last year’s presidential election.
“I think his low share of the Hispanic vote probably would have been exactly the same, or very close to the same, regardless of whether he said ‘self-deportation’ or not,” Mr. Kobach said. “The fact that he took a pro-enforcement position helped him with independent voters significantly.”
Mr. Kobach’s focus on immigration has rubbed some Kansans the wrong way.
“I’ve heard a lot of complaints around the state about him going off to other places and doing anti-immigration bills and stirring up people for that particular cause instead of staying here in Kansas,” said Stephen Morris, a Republican and a former president of the State Senate.
But Mr. Kobach says he maintains a 40-hour-a-week schedule as secretary of state and does immigration work only in his free time.
Beyond championing legislation, Mr. Kobach, a former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, has dipped into state politics. He established a political action committee last year and spent money to support conservative candidates vying for seats in the Legislature. Many questioned the propriety of the state’s chief election officer taking a partisan position in races, and Democrats unsuccessfully pushed legislation to prohibit the practice.
Political observers say he is grabbing for power in preparation for a run for national office. Mr. Kobach, who ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives in 2004, denied that. He said he would seek re-election next year but was not sure what he would do at the end of a second term in 2018.
“Absolutely, I’m open to it,” he said of running for national office, but added, “I’m honestly trying not to plan.”
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