KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Ryan is dedicated to sharing your voice on all kinds of news stories. If you have a story and would like to be interviewed, please reach out. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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Belton residents voiced mixed reactions Thursday night to the possible establishment of an ICE detention center at a warehouse on the Jackson/Cass County line.
Some of the people KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa spoke with shared with him their deep fear about personal safety.
Other's Gamboa spoke with shared they were less concerned about the facility's proximity to their community.
Their concerns became more concrete Thursday morning when ICE agents and Department of Homeland Security
officials were spotted touring an empty warehouse near the intersection of East 149th Street and Botts Road. The building is listed as the I-49 Industrial Building 7, as reported by KSHB 41 anchor Sarah Plake.
Jackson County Legislature Chairman Manny Abarca confirmed that federal officials were conducting tours of the facility, telling him they were looking to open an ICE facility with regional impact.
"They're talking everything that was suggested - 7500, 7,600 beds," Abarca said. "It's federal contractors who are touring to see how they can build out. It's a Midwest facility we're talking about, at least."
KSHB 41's Cass County reporter Ryan Gamboa caught up with several Belton residents at a Thursday night neighborhood development meeting to listen to them share their perspectives on the proposed facility.
For sisters Vannessa and Esmeralda Garcia Perez, the news feels surreal and frightening.
"It's disappointing," Vannessa Garcia Perez said. "I don't think you ever expect it being so close. You hear it in other states and it being in yours it's a little, you feel like you're living in a fake world."
Esmeralda Garcia Perez expressed fear about potential enforcement actions, regardless of citizenship status.
"For me, it's alarming" Garcia Perez said. "It's scary, not only because, it doesn't matter if you're a U.S. citizen or not a U.S. citizen. They just take you."
She described the constant anxiety of daily activities like commuting to work.
"Me going to work or getting on the highway, knowing that if I got stopped — it's scary," Garcia Perez said.
The sisters emphasized they are not criminals and their families came to the United States seeking greater opportunities.
"We're not criminals," she said. "We're not hurting anybody. Our parents came here to have a better life, to give us a better life here."
She expressed concern about being judged based on appearance rather than actions.
"I don't have any felony records, but by my skin color I am a felon," Esmeralda Garcia Perez said. "And that's what scares me."
"This world feels very dystopian now," Vanessa Garcia Perez said. "It feels like we are living in constant fear of who is going to be next."
The sisters called for empathy from the broader community.
"I want them to put themselves in our shoes, and that we aren't taking anything from them," Vannessa Garcia Perez said.
However, not all residents share the same level of concern about the potential detention center.
"I'm not worried about it," Archie Croux, a Belton resident. "I am from a city where there was a prison, a state prison, two blocks from us, so I am not worried about it and an ICE facility that close."
Tom Macpherson shared different concerns about the facility's potential impact on the community.
"I don't have concerns with that being here," Macpherson said. "My concern is going to be more from the protesters that might come as a result of it."
His concerns about protests proved accurate, as several demonstrators gathered at the warehouse Thursday. They held signs with messages in opposition to ICE operations. Some protesters wore red cloaks and white hats, similar to costumes from "The Handmaid's Tale."
"Just put pressure on them and say that Kansas City is in opposition to this," one protester named Karen told Gamboa.
Macpherson said he was concerned of the results of what happened in other cities that have had to deal with protests.
For some community members, the issue feels beyond their control.
"A lot of the higher up government stuff, we don't really have much control over," said CJ Shutt, a Belton resident.
Shutt acknowledged concerns about potential protests, but emphasized the importance of community unity.
"As long as we look out for each other, as long as we take care of our neighbors and remain a close-knit neighborhood, and just focus on loving our neighbor, we can't go wrong," Shutt said.
The warehouse is owned by Platform Ventures, a private investment firm that built the facility in partnership with Port KC for logistics and manufacturing jobs.
The company's website and LinkedIn pages were taken down Thursday after the ICE tour became public.
An ICE spokesperson said the agency is "actively working to expand detention space" and targeting "the worst of the worst including murderers, rapists, criminals, gang members and more." The spokesperson added that 70% of ICE arrests involve people charged or convicted of crimes in the United States.
Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas reaffirmed the city's commitment to being "welcoming and inclusive," while the Kansas City Council passed a resolution on Thursday placing a five-year ban on non-municipal detention facilities in the city.
U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, a Democrat, has expressed opposition to the facility, calling it "overwhelmingly unpopular among our citizens and a waste of taxpayer funding."
Gamboa reached out to U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, a Republican representing Missouri's 4th Congressional District, and his office declined to comment.
Abarca said federal officials told him they have already toured three other potential facilities and that the facility will open this year.
"I told them in there, at some point, you're going to need an ambulance, you're going to need the police department, you're going to need the fire department," Abarca said.
A sources close to KSHB 41 News reporter Ryan Gamboa, a senior Republican staffer in the Missouri delegation, indicated that Congress will be negotiating funding bills next week that could provide financing for projects like a detention center.
The City of Belton, Missouri, also declined KSHB 41's request for comment.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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