Bailey, in his letter, pointed to a Missouri law that makes it a felony to transport people who are in the U.S. illegally and another law that bars businesses from hiring individuals who are in the country illegally.

“Make no mistake, my office will do everything in its power to take legal action against any person or entity found to be in violation of these statutes,” Bailey wrote.

Jazzlyn Johnson, a spokesperson for Lucas, in a statement on Friday pointed to the fact that the Kansas City Police Department is under state control, arguing that the “only way Kansas City could ever become a so-called ‘sanctuary city’ is if the Missouri legislature directs the police department to stop enforcing federal law.”

Missouri lawmakers, Johnson said in the statement, “tried and failed to do so,” referencing a state law that declares certain federal gun laws invalid. A federal judge struck down the law in 2023 but Missouri has appealed the decision.

“Beyond that, Andrew Bailey’s letter is a political campaign press release with no legal effect, because, as he knows, he has no ability to supersede federal law,” Johnson said. “The mayor will continue to follow all state and federal laws while also building a Kansas City that welcomes all.”

Rep. Peter Merideth, a Democrat, called Bailey’s letter a “hateful political stunt” that emphasized a “fearmongering and bigoted narrative against immigrants.”

Merideth, an attorney by trade, pointed to the fact that Bailey currently faces a tightly-contested Republican primary for a full term as attorney general.

“But legally it’s a completely meaningless letter,” he said. “Pure political garbage.”

Rep. Emily Weber, a Democrat, was also quick to point out that Lucas was not talking about illegal immigration in his comments about Kansas City accepting migrant workers.

“We’re talking about migrant workers, not immigrants. We’re talking about migrant workers that have a Visa,” Weber said. She accused Bailey and other Republicans of fear-mongering by using words such as “immigrants” and “illegal.”

“This rhetoric…is just going to harm more and more people,” she said.

But Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Republican, said he was supportive of Bailey’s letter in an interview with The Star. Cierpiot said he did not have any problems with legal immigration, but he said he’s never read about cities “being overrun by legal immigrants with work permits.”

“There’s a lot of cities in this country that are having problems with this illegal immigration thing,” he said. “If this makes more Democratic governors and Democratic mayors call Biden and say ‘shut the damn border,’ that’s a good thing.”

Hatfield, the Jefferson City-based attorney, said the letter came down to the simple idea that Bailey disagreed with Lucas’ comments. He said there was nothing illegal in what Lucas said, pointing to his First Amendment rights.

“He never says that the mayor is aiding and abetting a violation of the law because he’s not doing that. He never says that anything the mayor said was actually illegal,” he said. “He just says that he doesn’t like the mayor’s position on welcoming immigrants to Kansas City. And he’s certainly entitled to have that opinion, but it’s not a legal issue at all.”

(The Star’s Daniel Desrochers contributed to this story.)

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