An elected state representative who happens also to be a Native American didn’t mince words — or history — when an anti-immigrant politician tried to push a bill in the Kansas state legislature on Wednesday. State Rep. Ponka-We Victors, a Democrat, told Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Tea Party Republican, “I think it’s funny Mr. Kobach, because when you mention illegal immigrant, I think of all of you.”
If you think that’s shocking — and shockingly hilarious — you’ll find another fact at the end that isn’t.
Rep. Ponka-We Victors’ comment, made during a hearing for a bill that would take away in-state tuition for undocumented students that Secretary of State Kris Kobach is pushing, drew cheers from those in the audience, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Kobach is well-known an anti-immigrant activist.
What’s shocking is that Tea Party Republican and Kansas elected Secretary of State Kris Kobach has a second job. He is “of counsel” for the Immigration Law Reform Institute, which is the legal arm of F.A.I.R., the Federation for American Immigration Reform — a hate group certified by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Yes, the elected Secretary of State of the great state of Kansas is an attorney working for a certified anti-immigrant hate group.
You’re probably not laughing any more.
Scott Keyes at Think Progress adds:
Kobach, author of anti-immigrant state laws like SB 1070 in Arizona and HB 56 in Alabama, is a central figure in the conservative push to oppose immigration reform. He served as an advisor on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012 and continues to fight for stricter laws in Kansas and around the country.
So, Mitt Romney had an advisor who is an attorney working for a certified anti-immigrant hate group.
You’re probably not laughing any more.
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