BY: GRACE HILLS
Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — An open letter from Kansas Catholic bishops urges people to approach immigration with compassion, and condemns portrayals of all immigrants as criminals — rhetoric President Donald Trump frequently uses.
“Treating all migrants and refugees as if they were violent criminals is simply unjust. They are human beings made in God’s image,” wrote Archbishop Shawn McKnight, Bishop Carl Kemme, and Bishop Gerald Vincke in the letter.
Both Pope Francis, who died in April, and Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, have been critical of Trump’s mass deportations and descriptions of immigrants as criminals.
The Kansas Legislature passed a resolution in April to encourage Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly — who has condemned Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts, like his deployment of the National Guard on U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement protests in Los Angeles — to “fully cooperate with the policies of the Trump administration in enforcing federal immigration laws.”
The resolution encourages compassion for immigrants — who are less likely to commit crimes than U.S.-born Americans — but includes a paragraph that asserts “illegal immigration leads to severe repercussions for our entire state, including threats to public safety and public health via human trafficking, the deadly fentanyl crisis and strains on public resources.”
Some of the legislators who voted yes on the resolution are Catholic, including Republican Rep. David Buehler from Lansing.
Buehler said he found the bishops’ letter, which acknowledges criminals are taking advantage of the country’s broken immigration system, to be incomplete.
“We don’t have anything in the way of policy in the state of Kansas that I think is not kind. I think we all stand for law and order and humane treatment of all people,” Buehler said. “But I think we have to consider all aspects of this issue, and we can’t turn a blind eye to the impact on our schools, to the impact on our health care. There are so many pieces and parts.”
Buehler said he is worried about what he sees as the unintended consequences of immigration, which he believes were exacerbated when President Joe Biden was in office.
“We should have humane treatment for immigration and those who may be here illegally, but we also at the same time should enforce the laws of this country,” Buehler said. “We can do both.”
Throughout their letter, the bishops encouraged Kansans to see immigrants as humans rather than criminals.
“Amid political division and fear, we remind our communities that at the center of every immigration debate are real people: families in our pews, children in our schools, workers in our neighborhoods, and volunteers in our parishes,” the bishops wrote.
Shabina Kavimandan immigrated to Kansas from India in 1998. She said she started volunteering with Overland Park Democratic Sen. Cindy Holscher’s campaign for governor in part because of Holscher’s kindness toward immigrants.
“There are certain members of a party that always say they align with so many religious views, especially when it comes to ‘pro-life’ issues,” Kavimandan said. “I see that they believe in life, and the value of life. And then on the other hand there is such a dismissal of the reasons why people choose to come to this country.”
Kavimandan said she stayed in the United States in part because of her determination and also because of Kansans’ interest in knowing and helping her as a person.
“There were people who sat across from me and asked about Shabina the individual. I see that missing now,” Kavimandan said. “That’s another piece that lawmakers tend to overlook sometimes. Behind all the policies there really are just people and their stories. There’s a Shabina who came to this land with $200 in her pocket, but then there were people who were like ‘We have to make sure that she becomes something in this country.’ ”
All Kansas bishops signed the letter but one — Bishop John Brungardt in Dodge City. Brungardt did not respond to a request for comment.