Immigration sweeps. $8 million boost. Third-party candidate.

By Clay Wirestone | opinion editor

DODGE CITY — Southwest Kansas communities reeling from President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — which included random stops to check status — are looking for ways to recover as fear continues to grip the area’s large Hispanic population.

Restaurants closed, motel managers cancelled reservations and the area’s large beef processing facilities shortened or called off shifts last week as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers rushed in and immigrant employees didn’t show up for work.

Breanna Rutschman, a Dodge City second grade teacher, said seven of her 20 students were absent the day the agents arrived. The next day, just eight students showed up. Other classrooms in the school were largely empty.

“They’re here to better their situation and improve the lives of their children, and they’re just hardworking and they’re caring and they’re human,” she said. “What’s happening is so inhumane and so cruel, and it’s unnecessary. It’s absolutely unnecessary.”

ICE agents arrived in the area Sept. 22, focusing immigration checks in Dodge City, Liberal and Garden City. The federal government reported making more than 100 arrests. Trump’s Department of Homeland Security Sec. Markwayne Mullin said through news releases that agents were arresting only “heinous criminals”

By Clay Wirestone

National Republicans are racing to the rescue of U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall, diverting millions of dollars in advertising from North Carolina to Kansas. At least, that’s what the Friday reports from Semafor, The Associated Press and Politico indicate.

The Senate Leadership Fund political action committee has reserved more than $8 million in ad spending right here over the next month, defending Marshall from a surprisingly robust challenge by Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton. The incumbent senator’s clumsy campaign hasn’t helped.

TOPEKA — Scott Morgan’s third-party candidacy to become Kansas’ top election officer is based on the premise that voters are intensely frustrated by hyper-partisan lawmakers motivated by winner-take-all showdowns instead of good-of-the-whole collaboration.

TOPEKA — Kansas weather lived up to its tempestuous reputation Wednesday as the dregs of Hurricane Polo launched more than a dozen tornadoes throughout the state.

WASHINGTON — This summer, arrests of immigrants in the United States soared to the highest levels since President Donald Trump returned to office.

An unprecedented increase in cooperation between local and state law enforcement and federal immigration officers through collaborations known as 287(g) agreements helped drive numbers up.

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