Kansas legislators believe the best way to address national outrage about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents murdering civilians in the street is to protect the agents, not their constituents.
Senate Bill 452 would allow local officers to establish a 25-foot zone around them that cannot be entered by onlookers. It would also give federal law enforcement agents — such as ICE officers — the same protections granted to local law enforcement.
The bill has passed the senate with a vote of 31-7. After being considered by the House Committee on Federal and State Affairs, it’s scheduled to be presented on the house floor on April 9th.
The bill does not directly prohibit recording law enforcement, but officers establishing a 25-foot barrier at any point can obviously affect bystanders’ ability to record their actions. The legislation establishes penalties in the form of fines or even jail time.
Anyone with a basic understanding of the dangers of police misconduct should be outraged at the cowardice in this bill. There needs to be accountability for officers who have the ability to violate civil rights, abuse their power and hurt people.
Many Kansas law enforcement agencies have made arrests on behalf of ICE under current President Donald Trump. The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s department signed an agreement with ICE to serve immigration detainers to people in custody that are suspected of being in the country illegally.
It’s important to emphasize that SB452 gives protections afforded to local law enforcement to all federal agents, including ICE. The agency is top of mind when reading this bill after their assault on Minneapolis recently.
The bill’s implementation of a 25-foot buffer zone for onlookers will severely hinder reporters and peaceful protestors’ ability to properly record law enforcement’s overreach of power.
ICE’s massive surge to Minneapolis under Operation Metro resulted in multiple horrific incidents, including the death of two civilians.
Video taken from multiple angles of ICE agent Jonathan Ross shooting and allegedly murdering Renée Good were crucial in properly understanding what happened.
Ross claimed Good was attempting to run him over with her car. A New York Times analysis of these videos showed conclusively that Good was actively turning her vehicle away from the agent when she attempted to drive away.
Video surveillance was also integral in understanding the murder of Alex Pretti. To be blunt and graphic, the video was the only way to show how ICE agents shoved Pretti on the ground, shot and killed him. All because Pretti was attempting to protect someone else from the agent’s violent and aggressive actions.
While Minnesota officials are fighting to independently investigate the murders of Good and Pretti, Kansas lawmakers are hindering the ability to hold ICE agents in our state to the same level of accountability.
At this time, the presence of ICE in Kansas has not resulted in the mass deployment of agents seen in Minneapolis.
This bill increases the chances of that happening by allowing sheriff departments to enter agreements with ICE, without county commission approval.
Understanding how important it was for civilian onlookers to properly witness and record events in Minneapolis, I have to ask what the motivation is for hindering Kansans from doing the same thing.
Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, recognized the dangers of this bill in her testimony against it.
“The 25-foot roving buffer zones the bill proposes would violate the clearly established First Amendment right to film law enforcement personnel performing their official duties in public, absent reasonable time, place and manner regulations,” Bradbury said.
The bill also creates no objective understanding for when a barrier should be implemented and leaves it completely to the discretion of the officers.
Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican and director of Wichita State-Koch Industries partnership GoCreate, pushed for this legislation and made the motivations very clear in written testimony.
“After what we witnessed in Minnesota, we must make sure that resisting, fleeing or obstructing law enforcement carries real consequences,” Masterson said. “It’s a practical and prudent step to enhance security and accountability in our communities.”
Masterson’s call for consequences would result in fines or jail time for the press and individuals using their 1st amendment rights. When proximity to the murders carried out by ICE agents was key in properly recording what happened, Masteron’s statement emphasize the dangers of this bill.
What security was provided to the community after Alex Pretti was killed for shielding a woman who was shoved by an ICE agent?
This bill would not protect the communities Kansas lawmakers like Masterson are supposed to serve. It is a vile betrayal of that obligation to serve, reducing accountability over the murder of civilians by jacked booted thugs that U.S. taxpayers are funding.
Even if this bill did not expand to federal law enforcement, it would still be a major overstep of the government, harming citizens ability to hold local and state officers accountable.
The ability to record police within a close vicinity has resulted in acts of police brutality being brought to light.
George Floyd’s murder by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020 was filmed by 17-year-old high school student Darnella Frazier.
Frazier spoke to how being close to Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck was vitally important in an instagram post she shared.
“Right in front of my eyes, a few feet away. I didn’t know this man from a can of paint, but I knew his life mattered,” Frazier said. “I knew he was in pain, I knew that he was another Black man in danger with no power.”
Police brutality and misconduct have occurred whether recording of the incident happens or not. Frazier’s words speak to many incidents where people’s safety was no longer in their control.
Senate Bill 452 signals to Kansans that lawmakers prioritize protection for tyrannical officers abusing their power over the safety of citizens.
