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KSHB 41 is trying to verify information the Washington Post reported about the possibility of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention warehouse coming to Kansas City, Missouri.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II says he has not seen documentation that reportedly details a mega ICE detention facility in KC, so as of right now, he can't confirm that's true.
"I think right now our goal is to try to push DHS as much as we can to give us information," Cleaver said in an interview with KSHB 41. "And it's certainly not too soon for that to happen."
He wrote a letter Tuesday to the Department of Homeland Security detailing his concerns.
"We need to have some idea that people are not going to come in looking for an opportunity to create chaos," Cleaver said.
Cleaver also said he has an added reason for demanding more information: the World Cup this summer.
"We're going to have people in our community from countries where the populations are brown and Black, and we don't need people in a detention camp who came to Kansas City to spend money and enjoy a soccer match," Cleaver said.
KSHB 41 contacted the DHS spokesperson, but we hadn't heard back at the time this story was published.
Kansas City, Missouri, Councilman Johnathan Duncan (6th District) also read the Washington Post's report.
"I don't have anything that would lend me to believe that that is true or imminent in any way," Duncan said. "The city-owned property here in Kansas City is not in play; KCPD and other law enforcement agencies are not aware of any type of facility."
Duncan said if he does receive information about a potential ICE mega warehouse in Kansas City, he will "fight it every step of the way."
He said this situation is similar to the reports of dozens of ICE vehicles in a Northland parking lot on Tuesday. He said he was inundated with calls and messages about what's true and what's not.
"I received a call from KCPD, and it was their information that it was an automotive company that received a contract to decal these vehicles," Duncan said. "That lot is well-known to be a common staging area, not just for the Ford Motor Company, but for other businesses. And those fleet vehicles are not meant for Kansas City, they're meant for elsewhere."
Duncan said he doesn't know where the ICE vehicles will go from here.
He said the information he received is that Ford doesn't have anything to do with the vehicles.
The ICE vehicles were not visible in the parking lot on Wednesday. KSHB 41 called the company that owns the lot to ask about this contract, but we hadn't heard back from them at the time this story was published.
Duncan urges the public to be careful about posting information about ICE operations without verification. He recommends looking to groups like AIRR (Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation) for help.
On his Instagram page, Mayor Quinton Lucas posted a video addressing "concerns about recent ICE activity and rumors of a detention facility in south Kansas City."
"We want more people in Kansas City, not fewer," Lucas said. "We want people to feel more welcome, not like they're being pushed away. Building a city or a country in fear is antithetical to what America is all about."
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