In October and November 2025, targeted operations by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement produced 10 reported detentions. For Attorney General Kris Kobach, those cases showed Kansas investigators could move an immigration case forward instead of watching a federal handoff stall.
The Attorney General’s February announcement said Kansas and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had signed an agreement under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. A limited number of KBI agents would receive ICE training and authority to arrest people for specified immigration violations, serve and execute some warrants, and issue immigration detainers.
Kobach described the problem bluntly: “All across Kansas, illegal aliens who are dangerous criminals or gang members are released back to the streets on a regular basis. That will end.” The fight is over whether a jurisdictional technicality should decide what happens after a serious case.
KBI Director Tony Mattivi made the operational case. “The KBI is pleased to have another tool at our disposal to get known criminal offenders out of our communities,” he said. The bureau’s priorities remain major violent crimes, crimes against children, and drug-trafficking organizations, according to the announcement. The partnership adds federal coordination to those investigations; it does not replace them.
The Attorney General’s November release reported that the KBI and ICE conducted targeted operations and detained 10 people the office described as having serious criminal histories. That is a concrete number, not a promise. It shows trained agents using the authority they were given.
Kansas lawmakers then backed the same principle for county jails. Senate Substitute for HB 2372, which became law after the governor’s veto was overridden, authorizes a sheriff or jail keeper to detain a person when ICE presents a facially sufficient detainer request. The law requires notice to the person, a copy of the form, and release if the detainer is canceled, found insufficient, or the person proves U.S. citizenship or lawful presence.
The law also protects the people doing the work when they act in good faith. The state must provide or arrange legal representation in specified civil actions, and good-faith officers and agencies receive the protections written into the statute. A sheriff does not need county-commission approval to enter a federal 287(g) agreement.
Critics can argue over federalism and procedure. They cannot fairly claim Kansas has left the rules undefined: the statute lists the form requirements, the notice duties, the release triggers, and the legal support available to law enforcement.
Detention under an immigration detainer is not a criminal conviction, and the public releases do not list the final outcome of each case. The record shows an agreement, trained agents, 10 reported detentions, and a Legislature willing to back sheriffs who follow the process.
Kobach and Kansas law enforcement are no longer treating the county line as a hiding place. If federal authorities identify a serious immigration case, Kansas now has trained investigators, clearer jail authority, and a state government prepared to stand behind lawful enforcement.