WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Gov. Laura Kelly hosted a town hall meeting on Monday, speaking to meatpacking employees affected by recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in southwest Kansas.
Kelly began by acknowledging that her presence in Dodge City came two weeks after ICE activities were first reported in the area. She said that she was worried an earlier visit could have inflamed tensions.
ICE arrested more than 100 in southwest Kansas, feds say
But the governor said that she stayed in communication with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the Kansas Livestock Association. Both of these organizations had representatives at the meeting.
Gov. Laura Kelly leads town hall to address ICE activity in southwest Kansas (KSN Photo)
Gov. Laura Kelly leads town hall to address ICE activity in southwest Kansas (KSN Photo)
Gov. Laura Kelly leads town hall to address ICE activity in southwest Kansas (KSN Photo)
ICE wraps up operations in Dodge City, Garden City
Kelly said that the raids may have ended, but their effects are still being felt in the community and the economy. She said that some meatpacking facilities had to close for days because workers were scared to leave their homes even after agents were gone.
“Even when they left, there was still some residual impact of people not being back at work and all shifts not operating at all cylinders,” Kelly said. “So, I’m sure that the cost is very high.”
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Martin Rosas, the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Wichita, said that these disruptions won’t only be felt in Kansas.
“When the federal government disrupts these operations, we all pay for it,” he said. “Not only the people in the state of Kansas, but the whole United States. We produce in excess of over 25% of beef production in the United States.”
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After her remarks, Kelly took questions from audience members, and multiple people asked what the governor can do in the future to prevent similar ICE operations in the future. But Kelly said there is not much she can do.
“The better question than ‘What can I do?’ would be ‘What can you do?'” she said. “Because I think the only way that this is going to stop is by changing the people who have influence in Washington, D.C. That is the only way that this is going to stop.”
Amy Soberanes, a community organizer, said that Kelly’s call to action was not an endorsement of any one candidate, but a push for the people to use their power to enact change.
“I think it was more of, ‘It doesn’t matter who it is or what party it is or what politics it is, it matters that these are people that are representing us and their willingness to help us,'” she said.
KSN reached out to ICE for a response to Kelly’s remarks that the agency’s activities in Kansas cost some meatpacking plants millions of dollars. The agency has not yet responded.
