Audit Claims ICE Interference in Kansas College Activities
An audit of social media accounts belonging to a Kansas community college professor has raised serious allegations about ICE agents secretly gathering information and interfering with community activities.
Steve Werkmeister, who teaches English at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, has positioned himself as a vocal advocate on social media. Under the handle swerkmeister.bsky.social on Bluesky, a platform with a left-leaning user base, he describes himself as “lazy” and “on the left of society.”
Recently, Werkmeister shared a flyer created by leftist advocacy groups that encourages anti-ICE activists to use whistles to disrupt ICE operations. This flyer suggests that blowing a whistle when ICE agents are nearby can help “follow the ICE caravan” and alert neighbors and others to join the action.
Additionally, he reposted comments from John Pavlovitz, a noted leftist activist, suggesting families should “eliminate” relatives who work for ICE. Pavlovitz’s message conveyed that “good people” should make ICE families outcasts in social settings.
Werkmeister has characterized federal immigration enforcement as a form of “kidnapping.” He even expressed concern that he and his family might be “kidnapped” by ICE due to their “brown” skin. In fact, he mentioned discussing with the college’s administration about the possibility of teaching remotely from a safer location abroad.
In one of his posts from October 10, he detailed a conversation he had with the college president about teaching online from overseas, highlighting his fears about potential government action against his family.
There’s a broader context here too. Mark Bray, known as “Dr. Antifa,” recently sought refuge in Spain after being labeled a domestic terrorist by former President Donald Trump.
After apparently traveling abroad, Werkmeister detailed the steps he would take to re-enter the U.S. He shared that, even though their citizenship shouldn’t be questioned, he felt the need to alert family upon landing so they could respond if he failed to check in again.
This anxiety about ICE’s actions and a perceived culture of violence in the U.S. seems to weigh heavily on him. He admitted feeling more threatened at home than abroad in a follow-up post, stating it was a national shame that the most dangerous part of his journey was coming back to the U.S.
Werkmeister’s criticisms often focus on white individuals, expressing a sense of dread that he experiences daily. “Every time I go to the store or take a walk, it feels like a bunch of white ‘Americans’ are out hunting and kidnapping people who look like me,” he wrote, equating this to psychological terror.
He has even claimed that there is a desire among some white individuals to “put brown people back in the fields.”
In response to the situation, a spokesperson for Johnson County Community College emphasized its commitment to open dialogue and the values that the institution upholds. However, Werkmeister has yet to respond to any requests for comment on the issues raised.
