Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer on Tuesday night borrowed a page from rival Kris Kobach’s immigration playbook, calling for the state to employ an internet database to screen whether employees can legally work in the United States.
In a swift-moving forum broadcast Tuesday on KWCH-TV in Wichita that took less than an hour, Colyer veered to the right as he promised a hard-line approach on immigration.
He said he supported President Donald Trump’s efforts to secure the country’s borders, opposed in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and supported the use of the internet-based system E-Verify to determine whether employees can legally work here.
“I support President Trump and his effort to secure our border,” Colyer said. “It is important that we have a secure and safe border and that we regulate who’s coming in and out of the country.”
Colyer didn’t specifically say how E-Verify would be used, whether it would be required of all state employees and contractors, or whether he would seek legislation requiring it for all businesses statewide.
A spokesman for the governor said after the Republican gubernatorial debate that Colyer supports using it for state employees at the very least.
Colyer’s remarks during Tuesday night’s televised debate reflected comments from a couple weeks ago, when Kobach told a group of Olathe Republicans that he would sign an executive order requiring E-Verify for all state employees and state contractors.
Kobach also said he would support legislation making E-Verify a requirement for all businesses. The Legislature has considered bills over the years to do that, but they haven’t advanced very far.
As of last year, 22 states had some variation of the E-Verify law in place, including nine that required it for all private employers. The 13 other states impose the requirement for some public employees and government contractors.
Kobach, who’s developed a national reputation battling illegal immigration, questioned Colyer’s commitment on the issue.
As secretary of state, Kobach said he has backed legislation every year that would end in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants and ensure they’re not eligible for any kind of state benefits.
“For the past eight years, Gov. Colyer as lieutenant governor didn’t lift a finger,” Kobach said. “This legislative session, he could have called for those bills to be passed. He could have used the bully pulpit of the governor’s office to try to stop our illegal immigration problem, but he didn’t do it.
“You will see a 180 degree difference if I am your next governor.”
Kobach and Colyer clashed yet again, this time on a television stage in Wichita. Also participating in Tuesday’s forum were Insurance Commissioner Ken Selzer, former state Sen. Jim Barnett and evangelist Patrick Kucera.
Selzer called for tighter immigration controls, adding that he supported Trump’s efforts to clamp down on security at the border.
“We will always be supportive of fully screened legal immigration,” Selzer said. “We need immigrants … to help the Kansas economy grow. We need to deal rationally with the people who are here.”
Barnett distanced himself from the other candidates on immigration, saying he opposed Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy that separated children from their families at the border.
“Those are not the values I represent,” Barnett said.
“The governor says he would send troops to the border. If I was governor and we had troops at the border separating children from families, I’d call them home.”
