March towards new detention center moving quickly

By Ben McCarthy

More than a quarter century after the closure of the Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base and Airport, the developed area around I-49 (71 Highway) and 150 Highway, now known as 49 Crossing, has established itself as a growing intermodal hub in the region, featuring manufacturing, logistics, and light industrial businesses.

Amazon and Walmart established distribution centers there, while Niagara Bottling constructed its first local facility there in 2019. Honeywell also operates the Kansas City National Security Campus for the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Over the past two weeks, whispers about a potential new tenant have risen to a loud chorus of confirmations that U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has identified the 920,000 square foot industrial building at 14901 Botts Road in south Kansas City as the site for a future, massive detention facility.

The property is no longer being advertised online as available, and the speed with which the process is moving has left local officials scrambling to ascertain any up-to-date information.

Sixth District City Councilman, Jonathan Duncan, speaking with the Telegraph on Tuesday, acknowledged the incredible momentum present toward turning the property into a massive ICE facility.

On January 15th, he and other city council members passed an ordinance that establishes a moratorium on all city approvals for non-municipal detention facilities by a 12-1 vote. It immediately went into effect and doesn’t expire until January 15th, 2031. To legally operate as a detention facility for federal immigration needs, the south Kansas City warehouse would require a special use permit.

Duncan acknowledges that the ordinance will probably not withstand inevitable legal challenges, due to the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, giving the federal government broad powers to invalidate state and local laws that conflict with federal authority.

“When we passed this ordinance, we knew full well what we were up against,” Duncan said. “This is just the initial salvo against the federal government, ICE and DHS.”

Platform Ventures, a local real estate and development firm, has owned the building, but has only provided one vague answer as to the fate of the property. In a statement released following the council’s vote, Platform confirmed that all negotiations for the property were complete. They said they would refuse to engage in any public conversations about the building’s future and added that the company: “does not question prospective buyers on their intent after close.”

The building was built in 2022 through $80 millions in bonds and tax breaks through Port KC.

“For Platform to say they have a fiduciary responsibility, but that they also won’t be inquiring about what new ‘business’ is being conducted there – I call B.S.,” Duncan said.

Port KC’s outgoing Director of Communications, Meredith Hoenes, said that the building at 49 Crossing was owned solely by Platform Ventures. Port KC had no mechanism to stop a sale.

Port KC says a detention center is inconsistent with their statutory mission and the Crossing’s original intended industrial use, as well as “community expectations.”

Reports from December indicate that the Trump administration is seeking to renovate industrial warehouses throughout the country to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees.

In a letter earlier this month, Missouri’s 5th Congressional District Representative Emanuel Cleaver, II condemned DHS’s plans to open the south Kansas City detention center, demanding additional information on the process before the plan moves forward. Among his questions to DHS, Cleaver asked if the Trump administration would provide Congress with locations of proposed ICE facilities. The former Kansas City Mayor spoke to Jessica McMaster of SAN (Straight Arrow News) earlier this week and said that he was in a “constant state of panic” over the issue.

Missouri’s 4th District U.S. Congressman, Mark Alford, has sent a letter to DHS saying his constituents would welcome what Kansas City may try to fight against.

“We offered sites in Cass County in the event misguided policies from local leaders in Kansas City were able to block a facility from being located there,” Alford said in a statement to the Telegraph.

“We will continue to stand with federal law enforcement.”

District 1 Councilman Manny Abarca documented his visit to the facility at 49 Crossing two weeks ago across social media. He shared additional information, images and video of his encounter with ICE agents there on Tuesday with the Telegraph. After a hostile greeting at the facility that included a threat from masked agents (sporting tactical gear with “POLICE” across the chest) to press trespassing charges, Abarca was eventually ushered toward the facility as an unpublicized “tour” was being given for ICE’s Chicago Field office, including its Director, Shawn Byers.

Abarca says Byers told him told him that ICE will scale up new field office operations during 2026, including bringing in an additional 100 agents in the coming months, and a goal of having the proposed detention facility up and running by this fall.

“Operations are going to ramp up right after they’re done in Minneapolis,” Abarca said. “This building will hold 7600 beds: it’s the biggest warehouse I’ve ever been in.”

Abarca said the plan is to make the Kansas City site a national clearing house for detainees headed to the border or the coasts, and regional hub for 5 or 6 bordering states. On top of a training center for agents, Abarca claims Byers told him a shooting range will also be on the property.

Based on his interactions with Byers and other ICE officials, Abarca concludes (like his colleague, Duncan) that the City Council ultimately won’t be able to stop ICE’s enhanced presence in town, but they can work towards delaying it.

“This could become a test of democracy,” Abarca said. “Do local authorities have any (capacity) to say ‘no’ to the federal government?”