Missouri Republican lawmakers are seeking to target Kansas City with heavy sanctions if it moves ahead with stated plans by Mayor Quinton Lucas to welcome immigrants with legal clearance to work while in the United States.

The last item added to the state budget Wednesday during deliberations of the Senate Appropriations Committee was language that cuts all state funding for cities that become sanctuaries for immigrants. It also requires any money already received by those cities to be paid back with interest.

The provision, added to the budget at the urging of Republican state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville, came in response to statements Lucas made, first to Bloomberg News and later to local media and on social media, that he is in talks with mayors in New York and Denver to help them with large numbers of recently arrived migrants.

“We wanted to have the clawback provisions in there to make sure that if he does that, once we’re out of session, and some of that money is expended by the city of Kansas City, the state has the ability to seek reimbursement of that, as well as interest,” Luetkemeyer said.

The language almost passed unnoticed in the fast-paced hearing, until state Sen. Barbara Washington, a Kansas City Democrat, raised objections. 

She said the provision is borne of cruelty to migrants and animosity toward a city controlled by Democrats.

“I want them to be able to come here and be safe, be able to work, be able to go to school, be able to eat and do the things that they do, be entrepreneurs that they want to,” Washington said.

Washington was caught off guard by the provision yet, like other Democrats, voted for most of the budget bills as they were approved on their way to Senate floor debate. The amendment was added to every bill so it could impact school funding, student college aid and grants to civic groups, depending on how it is interpreted.

The controversy over Kansas City’s welcoming policy began after Lucas spoke to Bloomberg for an article published April 16.

“We need a lot more employees,” Lucas said. “If there are people who are willing and ready to work, then I believe that there could be a place for them.”

That drew a rebuke from Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who said Missouri laws prohibit the transportation or employment of undocumented immigrants.

“Your open invitation to illegal aliens to come to Missouri is not only dangerous but comes at great expense to Missouri taxpayers, residents, and business owners,” Bailey wrote in a letter to Lucas included in a news release. “Rather than undermining the rule of law, I invite you to join me as I actively seek to defend it and to protect Missourians.”

In a statement on X, as opposition led by Republicans escalated, Lucas said he is trying to welcome people legally able to work. 

“What we’re saying is if you’ve gone through that work permit, you’ve worked with the Department of Homeland Security, and you are lawfully present here in the United States, then you know what, we want to welcome you,” Lucas wrote. “We want to make sure there’s a way to find work in our community.”

Lucas clarified his position again during a meeting Tuesday of the Kansas City Council’s Special Committee for Legal Review.

“There is nothing that has been proposed that suggests we are a sanctuary city,” he said, according to the Kansas City Star. “There is nothing that has been proposed that suggests that this city is funding or in some conspiracy to help create more illegal immigration.”

The provision added the budget states:

“No funds shall be expended to any municipality that enacts or adopts a sanctuary policy, in accordance with Section 67.307, RSMO. any municipality that enacts or adopts a sanctuary policy and has received state funds during the current fiscal year shall pay back all funds with interest calculated at the statutory rate of interest as provided in Section 408.040.4, RSMO.”

The law barring Missouri cities from declaring they are sanctuary cities defines that as an ordinance or policy to limit or prohibit communication with federal immigration agencies “to verify or report the immigration status” of any individual or grants people in the United States illegally the right to lawful presence.

The statute setting the interest makes it equal to the rate set by the Federal Reserve for its loans to banks, plus 3%, which would make it 8.25% to 8.5% as of Wednesday.

The penalty is withholding grants administered by state agencies. It is triggered when a complaint is made, and requires “any member of the general assembly” to ask the attorney general for an official opinion on whether there has been a violation.

The language in the budget goes beyond that law and will be thrown out in the courts, Washington said. There is no provision for taking money back, she noted.

“If we are going to be the protectors of our state’s budget, and respect the citizens of this state, we have got to stop doing things that are going to cost us a lot of money in court,” Washington said.

Seeking a repayment with interest is legal, Lutkemeyer said.

“The statute is silent as to that issue,” he said. “We’re just filling that gap.”

The Center for Immigration Studies, which defines sanctuary cities as those with “laws, ordinances, regulations, resolutions, policies, or other practices that obstruct immigration enforcement and shield criminals,” does not consider any city in Missouri a sanctuary city.

In a statement, state Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat, said the language will not impact immigration.

“There are no sanctuary cities in Missouri and this language will not actually do anything to help our state,” Arthur said. “It is simply another distraction from the fact that Congressional Republicans are refusing to pass the bipartisan border security bill that would finally address the real crisis at the border.”