Anti-immigrant zealot and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach today announced his endorsement of Donald Trump. Kobach is the architect of Arizona’s SB1070, the anti-Latino, anti-immigrant “show me your papers” law, as well as other state laws anchored in the concept of “self-deportation” (attempting to make immigrants so miserable they decide to leave the country). In addition, Kobach is the elected official behind one of the most egregious examples of voter suppression disproportionately harmful to people of color; and a former employee and ongoing ally of the Immigration Reform Law Institute, the legal arm of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) – an organization designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, said the following in response:
“The leading lights of intolerance and nativism in our country are lining up to support Donald Trump. They get that Trump is determined to mainstream a vision of America that previously has been restricted to the far-right fringe. Kobach joins a rogue’s gallery of nativists. Just recently, Trump has been endorsed by Jan Brewer, the former governor of Arizona and the chief executive who nearly wrecked her state when she signed SB1070 into law; by Senator Jeff Sessions, the Senate’s most anti-immigrant member and a former judge whose racial views were so obnoxious he was denied a federal judgeship; and the notoriously anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a man known for his birther views and discriminatory law enforcement practices. These endorsements, as well as such developments as Trump’s refusal to disavow the KKK and David Duke, make it impossible for anyone to continue pretending about what type of campaign Trump is running. Trump and his endorsers would treat hardworking immigrant families as sub-human. It’s on those of us who oppose such ugliness to stand up and oppose Trump’s dangerous blend of nativism, demagoguery and authoritarianism.”
