Kansas House Panel Opens Hearings On Immigration

A Kansas House committee has opened a week of hearings on immigration issues and will study competing proposals that represent opposing philosophies.

The Federal and State Affairs Committee started Monday with a bill backed by a coalition of business groups to help some illegal immigrants hold down hard-to-fill jobs in agriculture and other industries with labor shortages.

The committee planned two days for hearings on the bill drafted by the coalition, which includes agriculture groups and the Kansas Chamber of Commerce.

But the committee also plans to start hearings Wednesday on multiple bills designed to crack down on illegal immigration. Those measures are backed by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the former law professor who helped draft tough immigration laws in Alabama and Arizona.