courts

For immigrants looking to stay in the U.S legally, asylum is often their last hope, but judges are denying more claims. Plus: A Missouri man living in the U.S. for 25 years will be deported to Mexico after authorities pulled him over for not having a front license plate.

Judges in Kansas City Immigration Court hear asylum cases from across Missouri and Kansas. The high denial rates for asylum stem from judicial discretion and how hard it can be to prove persecution in one’s home country.

Douglas County District Court Judge Carl Folsom said provisions the Kansas "Help Not Harm Act" likely violate the state constitution. Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach called the decision “is a stark example of judicial activism.”

Noncitizens routinely won release or a bond hearing, according to a review of habeas corpus cases from Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. But the legal landscape is changing.

The high court also rejected lawsuits contending that the new lines passed in 2025 were not compact as required by law.

Federal prosecutors said the teenager was driven in handcuffs from California to a Christian reform school in southwest Missouri. Agape Boarding School later closed amid an abuse scandal.

After the Shawnee City Council unanimously passed a first-of-its-kind ordinance that restricts how many unrelated people can live in a single-family home, some community members argued it could worsen the area's housing shortage. Opponents say they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Missouri's highest court ruled 4-3 that lawmakers were allowed to undergo mid-decade redistricting. But that does not necessarily mean the map passed last year will be in place for the 2026 election, as opponents continue to pursue a referendum.

A mural depicting hamburger-like UFOs at the Cozy Inn in Salina, Kansas, is at the center of a dispute that could end up going before the U.S. Supreme Court. At issue: Is it a work of art protected by the First Amendment? Or is it an advertisement subject to the city’s sign code?

U.S. District Judge Stephen Bough says his family was targeted after he ruled against the Trump administration in its attempt to deport five Missouri college students. Threats against federal judges have spiked since President Donald Trump took office.

Missouri is one of two states where, if a jury is deadlocked on whether to sentence someone to death, the judge can issue the death penalty. The bill also establishes an automatic record-clearing process for most nonviolent offenses.

A Republican judge in Cole County on Thursday ruled that the ballot summary must be rewritten for a proposed constitutional amendment that he said would confuse voters, making it much harder for Missourians to amend the constitution through citizen initiative petitions.