Hate-watch group tried to bump Kris Kobach from congressional testimony

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Last year, officials from the Missouri State Highway Patrol received training from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that gave them the authority to conduct immigration investigations and detain undocumented migrants. Where do local cops get off executing immigration law? Well, in 1996 Congress passed a law with a provision called 287(g) that opened the door for county and state officials to take a class, sign an agreement and essentially become a local arm of ICE.

That program has created a storm of controversy in recent months.

In March, the Government Accountability Office released a study that criticized ICE for not adequately monitoring the program’s participants, allowing for potential misuse of immigration authority by local cops and sheriffs. That came on the heels of a number of other studies, including one from the University of North Carolina, and lawsuits, like one filed by the ACLU in Arizona, that allege the program imperils civil rights and encourages racial profiling.

Enter the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.

Last week, it convened a hearing on the contentious 287(g) program. When the list of witnesses came out, it was no surprise that Kris Kobach, a strong proponent of local governments getting into immigration enforcement, was on his way to Washington, D.C. But the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote a scathing letter to the committee chair, trying to bar the University of Missouri-Kansas City law professor from testifying.