After ICE raids, southwest Kansans swung to a Democrat. Now they want accountability

Detailed summary

DODGE CITY, Kansas, Nov 13 - Early last month, in a starkly lit meeting room in southwest Kansas, Amy Soberanes stood to address members of the Dodge City commission.

DODGE CITY, Kansas, Nov 13 - Early last month, in a starkly lit meeting room in southwest Kansas, Amy Soberanes stood to address members of the Dodge City commission.

It had been two weeks since US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents descended on the city, and she and other community organizers peppered the commissioners with questions: What had they known? Why had the area been targeted? How would the city respond if it happened again?

Federal immigration agents swept into this rural corner of Kansas in late September and detained 104 people, according to the local US Attorney. Hispanic communities in Dodge City, Garden City and Liberal – dominated by meatpacking plants staffed by a mostly immigrant workforce – were hardest hit.

“Our community is looking for reassurance and direction,” Soberanes, a 25-year-old Mexican American business owner, said to the five men on the dais.

There were few answers to be had that night. But on November 3, Election Day, voters made themselves heard.

Kansas elected a Democrat to the US Senate for the first time in nearly a century when Adam Hamilton ousted incumbent Republican Roger Marshall. The three counties most affected by the ICE raids swung toward Hamilton by more than 20 points on average from Republican President Donald Trump’s 2024 vote share, results compiled by Reuters and USA Today showed.

The shift represented a striking backlash to Trump's immigration crackdown in one of the country's most conservative states. The raids disrupted economic activity in the so-called Golden Triangle of Beef and left local officials complaining that they had been kept in the dark.

Trump, in the wake of his party’s midterm drubbing, has sent mixed signals on immigration policy. He told "60 Minutes" that his deportation campaign may have been "too tough." He then promoted Stephen Miller, architect of Trump's immigration strategy, to be his next chief of staff.

Asked for comment on this story, ICE's parent agency, the Department of Homeland…

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