KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Kansas City) penned a strongly worded letter Tuesday condemning a possible Department of Homeland Security plan to bring an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center to Kansas City, Missouri.
Cleaver cited a report from the Washington Post in which the article cited ICE documents that revealed plans to house 80,000 immigrants across seven large-scale holding centers, part of the Trump administration’s plan to speed up deportations.
“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.”
READ | Cleaver's full letter to DHS
Cleaver said he believes due process, civil liberties and human rights are at stake, so it is pertinent that ICE “act transparently.”
One of several concerns he brought up in the letter was the department's recent $29.9 million no-bid contract to an organization (KPB Services LLC) with no history of government contracts.
KPB Services LLC was reportedly formed in April 2025 in Holton, Kansas, and was the tribal offshoot of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation hired by ICE.
However, the Kansas tribe said in December it decided to walk away from the contract after facing harsh criticism online, per the Associated Press.
The AP also reported the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation said the tribe divested from KPB Services LLC and "no longer has a stake."
Cleaver's other concerns in his letter cited reports in which documents have alleged sexual abuse, medical neglect and physical abuse at immigration detention centers.
“No human deserves to be rounded up as cattle, shipped across the country, imprisoned in warehouses, and stripped of their dignity,” Cleaver said in his letter. “The proposed plan will degrade our society, divide our communities, waste taxpayer dollars, and stress the civility of our institutions to the point of fracture.”
Before any plan moves forward, Cleaver is "demanding" additional information. He has requested responses to four questions by Jan. 23:
- Has the administration briefed Congress on the plans and locations of these facilities?
- Why did the administration pursue a no-bid contract, as opposed to a competitive, transparent application process?
- Will the administration provide Congress and the general public with the locations of the proposed facilities?
- How has the administration coordinated with local governments? Will the administration honor the local zoning policies and processes?
Cleaver finished his letter by acknowledging the importance of border security while criticizing the current administration’s approach, saying he believes the millions being used for detention centers “would be better spent on finding criminals rather than attacking families and those with no criminal history.”
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