Dozens of undocumented Kansas students marched to the Secretary of State's office in Topeka Tuesday. They want him to resign.
Students from other states, like Arizona, California and New York, joined them. It's the latest in a series of protests around the country over attempts to change immigration law to make it more difficult for undocumented immigrants to live in the United States.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach wrote the controversial immigration law in Arizona. He's also helping with a lawsuit that seeks to end a program established by President Barack Obama. That program allows undocumented students who came to the U.S. as children to apply to remain in the country.
The protestors call Kobach's actions discriminatory. Kobach calls it enforcing the rule of law.
"I mean, the first argument they make is we don't want the laws of the United States enforced against us. And then the second argument they make is and if you're a U.S. official who believes in enforcing the law we want you to resign," Kobach said when saying he wouldn't resign.
"My family's been in the process to obtain permanent residency for the last ten years," said Kansan Ernesto de la Rosa, who came to the United States as a child and is now a graduate student in Kansas. "However we haven't achieved anything because the system is broken. Our immigration system is broken." De la Rosa was born in Mexico but considers himself an American.
Kobach refused to meet with the Dreamers, as the students call themselves. The name comes from the proposed Dream Act that would give them amnesty and provide a route to citizenship.
Kobach said it would be inappropriate to meet with the protestors in his state offices because it wouldn't be on state business.
