Kris Kobach announces US Senate run in Kansas

Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach announced Monday he is running for the U.S. Senate to help the Trump administration enforce immigration policies and secure the nation's southern border.

“I think the president needs someone who can lead the charge in the United States Senate to make sure the wall gets built, to close the loopholes in our asylum laws and to make sure our immigration laws are better enforced,” he said in a "First on FOX Business" interview with Neil Cavuto on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast." “I am willing to step in so that’s why I am running for the U.S. Senate.”

Kobach, a vocal supporter of Trump, said as a senator, he can do a great deal for both the administration and the country, specifically pushing forward tough immigration policies which he said has become the centerpiece of his work for the past two decades.

“I can help [Trump] as he crafts executive policies to protect this country, and then I can also do what he needs [to be] done in the Congress, which is to reform our laws so that we have a better immigration system and the laws are fully enforced,” he said.

The former Kansas secretary of state addressed the controversy surrounding past documents that allegedly show Kobach aligned himself with organizations that had ties with white supremacist groups. Kobach said the allegations were made by the Southern Poverty Law Center because of his strong stance against illegal immigration.

“The Southern Poverty Law Center said, ‘well Kobach must be associated with white supremacists’ with no basis in fact whatsoever because I have spoken at various conferences, none of whom are affiliated with white supremacists,” Kobach said. “There’s no truth to it whatsoever,” he added.

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Kobach will seek the Senate seat held by four-term Republican Pat Roberts, who is not running for re-election.