Police investigate a Kansas city council member's citizenship after a complaint left via voicemail

Source: Nebraska Examiner

By: Sherman Smith - August 7, 2025 1:16 pm

LENEXA, Kansas — Melanie Arroyo lives in two worlds.

There’s the one where the Lenexa City Council member has to “assimilate and perform” like her white counterparts, she said. Then there’s the authentic world, where she is aware of how vulnerable she is in this country, “simply because I’m brown and because I have an accent.”

“It feels lonely,” she said.

At Tuesday night’s city council meeting, which was packed with residents who were upset about last week’s raid by federal authorities at El Toro Loco restaurants in Lenexa and Kansas City, Kansas, Arroyo revealed that city police had recently investigated her citizenship status and required her to prove her citizenship.


Lenexa City Council member Melanie Arroyo talks with supporters after the Aug. 5, 2025, council meeting. Arroyo revealed city police investigated her citizenship status and required her to prove her citizenship. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)


Read more: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/08/07/police-investigate-a-kansas-city-council-members-citizenship-after-a-complaint-left-via-voicemail/