KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas continued his push Wednesday to turn back plans for an ICE detention facility in his city.
Lucas spoke about the detention facility and several other topics Wednesday in an interview on “CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish.”
“We are fundamentally opposed,” Lucas said of ICE and U.S. Department of Homeland Security plans for a facility.
Earlier this month, ICE agents were seen outside of a warehouse in south Kansas City near the old Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base. Jackson County Legislature Chairman Manny Abarca said he spoke to ICE agents touring the facility and said they told him about the detention facility.
Last October, the property’s owner, Platform Ventures, said that they received an unsolicited bid on the property, which includes a nearly 1 million-square-foot warehouse. The firm, citing its fiduciary duty, received the offer and said negotiations were “closed” in a statement earlier this month. They did not disclose who made the bid.
In agenda documents posted online last week for an upcoming Port KC meeting, Port KC revealed Platform Ventures was working with the Department of Homeland Security on the property.
“What they’re talking about is a facility between 5,000 to 10,000 humans who will be warehoused in something that was built as an Amazon distribution facility,” Lucas said Wednesday on CNN. “And the attractiveness of the site is because it’s next to railroads. I don’t like big encampments next to train tracks and all of that. I think that is terribly un-American.”
An ICE spokesperson told KSHB 41 News this month that they had no plans to announce a detention center in the area.
Kansas City welcomes FIFA World Cup 2026
Kansas City is one of several cities across North America making final preparations to host matches during FIFA’s 2026 World Cup.
KC2026, the group that’s organizing Kansas City’s hosting of the matches, anticipates that as many as 600,000 fans could visit the area during the World Cup from mid-June to mid-July.
Lucas spoke about keeping those fans safe and welcoming.
“I think concern one is to make sure that everybody can come to our city and be safe and welcome,” Lucas said. “And, unfortunately, that means being welcome and safe from a federal government that, at times, is depriving rights as well.”
Lucas said city officials are working with local, state and federal partners regarding safety and security during the matches.
“We need to make sure that this is a country that is welcoming people,” Lucas said.
Lucas discusses local, national balance
The mayor also addressed topics of local cooperation with federal political priorities.
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