Federal plans to build a massive immigration detention center in Kansas City have ignited fierce debate and swift action from local officials, as the city finds itself at the center of a national controversy over immigration enforcement and community rights. Over the past week, a series of developments have unfolded, revealing the depth of concern among Kansas City’s leaders and residents about the prospect of hosting a facility capable of detaining thousands of immigrants at a time.
The story began to take shape on January 15, 2026, when federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) toured a sprawling warehouse at 14901 Botts Road in south Kansas City. The site, boasting 920,400 square feet of space, was once part of the former Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base and now sits in an industrial area near Grandview. According to Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca IV, who witnessed the federal visit firsthand, “They are ICE, they are Homeland Security.”
Abarca described a tense encounter: as he arrived at the warehouse, six ICE agents surrounded his car. Abarca’s video, posted on social media, shows officers without name badges shining flashlights into his vehicle. He later confirmed that federal agents told him they were touring the empty warehouse with contractors as a possible site for a future detention center. “They are national, regional, local teams that are looking to open an ICE facility, a mega detention facility — something that will have a regional impact that's pretty dramatic,” Abarca explained, as reported by KCUR.
The scale of the proposed facility quickly became clear. The warehouse is being considered for approximately 7,500 beds, making it one of the largest such centers in the country. “It's a massive facility, this is one of the biggest warehouses I've ever seen in my entire life,” Abarca said. “It's huge, so it's going to be very damaging to a whole lot of people.”
Within hours of the federal agents’ visit, Kansas City council members responded with urgency. On January 16, 2026, they approved a moratorium on all city approvals for nonmunicipal detention facilities, effectively halting any permits, zoning applications, or development plans for such projects—including the proposed ICE detention center—until January 15, 2031. The moratorium is a clear signal of the city’s resistance, but questions remain about whether it will be enough to stop the federal government from proceeding. As noted by KCUR, the warehouse would require a special use permit to operate as a detention facility for federal immigration needs, but federal authority often supersedes local regulations.
The potential facility is part of a broader federal push. In late December, The Washington Post reported on the Trump administration’s plans to renovate industrial warehouses across the country, creating a “deliberate feeder system” to speed up deportations. According to documents obtained by the Post, Kansas City is being eyed as a site for one of seven large-scale warehouses, each capable of holding 5,000 to 10,000 people for staging prior to deportation. The plan envisions people arrested by ICE being processed for a few weeks before being transferred to these mega-centers.
Community leaders and residents have not taken these developments lightly. Democratic officials in Kansas City have voiced deep concern about the humanitarian and social implications of such a facility. City Council member Johnathan Duncan, whose district includes the Botts Road warehouse, did not mince words: “Our worst fears are coming into reality,” Duncan told KCUR. “The fact that we will have a mass detention facility that equates to a homegrown concentration camp in my district, in the 6th District, makes me sick. I strive as a city council member and as a community leader to ensure that everyone feels welcome in our city. This will rip all of our work to shreds.”
Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas echoed these sentiments in a social media post, vowing regional opposition: “Warehousing 10,000 people in an industrial factory is not the move of enlightened or humane societies. We will work to ensure we see no such facility anywhere in our region on either side of the state line.”
U.S. Representative Emanuel Cleaver II, a Democrat from Kansas City, took his concerns directly to federal leaders. On January 13, 2026, he sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and ICE Acting Director Tom Lyons, demanding answers about the plans for the Kansas City facility and questioning a $29.9 million no-bid contract awarded for services related to processing centers and mega-centers nationwide. “Since day one, this administration has fractured communities with ICE raids and severed families with hundreds of thousands of deportations, sweeping up legal residents and American citizens in the process,” Cleaver wrote. “While we believe strongly in an orderly immigration system, Kansas Citians and I do not want to see the stench of these extreme mass deportation policies centralized in Kansas City.”
The debate over ICE’s presence in the region is not confined to Missouri. In neighboring Kansas, ICE activity and its consequences have also become a flashpoint. On January 14, 2026, Kansas State Representative Susan Ruiz, a Democrat from Shawnee, attempted to amend a Republican bill in the state legislature to declare that ICE “shall have no jurisdiction or power within the state of Kansas or its political subdivisions.” Ruiz’s amendment was motivated by the recent death of Renee Good, a former Kansas City resident shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. Ruiz argued that increased ICE activity had led to fewer people going to work, the grocery store, and schools, citing reports of ICE vehicles and raids in the Kansas City area.
The original bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Rebecca Schmoe, was intended to declare that international organizations such as the United Nations and World Health Organization have no power in Kansas. Ruiz’s attempt to redirect the bill’s focus to ICE was ruled not germane by a rules committee, halting her effort. The House passed Schmoe’s bill along party lines on January 15, 2026, with 85 in favor and 35 against; it now awaits consideration in the Senate.
Meanwhile, Kansas City residents have been unsettled by reports and images circulating on social media of ICE-branded vehicles in the area. While some of these vehicles are reportedly being serviced by a local company, according to Kansas City Council member Johnathan Duncan, federal officials have indicated that some will remain in Kansas City, though the exact number is unclear.
The warehouse at the center of the controversy is currently owned by a private entity, with Port KC holding the property due to a tax incentive deal made with Platform Ventures in 2022. Port KC has stated that its intent was to promote logistics and manufacturing jobs at the site, not detention facilities. “The reclamation of the former airbase has been a success story because it is a hub of manufacturing and private logistics development,” Port KC said. “It is our intent to ensure that the area, now named 49 Crossing, stays true to the vision of being an innovative jobs hub.”
As Kansas City grapples with its place in a national debate over immigration enforcement, the fate of the proposed detention center remains uncertain. Local leaders are determined to resist, but the final decision may rest with federal authorities, setting the stage for a confrontation over the city’s future identity and values.
