Hundreds of people gathered at Southwest Boulevard and Avenida Cesar E. Chavez on Tuesday night in solidarity with Los Angeles protesters demanding an end to immigration raids.
Walking down Grand Boulevard as they made their way to the World War I memorial, protesters displayed Mexican and American flags and carried signs that read "Solidarity" and "Immigrants pay taxes, billionaires don't."
"These are my people," said Regina Guevara, a second-generation Latina immigrant who was born and raised in Kansas City. "What they're doing to Latinos is no due process. It's not fair."
Thousands have taken to the streets of Los Angeles this week, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed it had detained at least 118 during weekend raids in the region. The agency said people were arrested for “alleged immigration violations in support of worksite enforcement operations.”
On Monday, the Trump Administration sent National Guard troops to the California protests to quell the protests, and United States Marines to support them.
Holding a sign that said, "We are not the enemy," Guevara got emotional speaking about her grandparents, who immigrated to Kansas City in search of better opportunities.
"We came here for something better. And to kick us out because you don't like us — and right now it's just about color, it's not about the process, its not about that we're undocumented and illegal here. That's just the narrative that (the Trump administration) want to bring."
Tuesday's protest drew around a thousand people throughout the evening and at times blocked traffic in the Crossroads neighborhood. There was no significant law enforcement presence and protesters were peaceful.
It began at the edge of Kansas City's West Wide neighborhood — one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city, with Mexican roots that run more than 100 years deep.
Sasha Pacheco said she was there to support her friends and family. She said she knows several people who have been taken into custody by immigration agents, including a father of three who had lived in Kansas City for many years.
"This is all he knows. They had three kids, he was the provider and (ICE) took him with no questions asked," Pacheco said.
The Kansas City area hasn’t seen similarly large-scale raids, but reports of an aggressive new Trump administration initiative that is ramping up deportations by arresting noncitizens at courthouses have sparked fear in Kansas City’s migrant communities and confusion at the federal immigration court.
Immigrant-owned businesses in the area have taken an economic hit as fear of deportation keeps customers home.
Mosetta Weefur is a Liberian-American immigrant who came to the United States when she was 5, seeking asylum during the Liberian Civil war.
Weefur said the last time she went to an African-owned salon on Independence Ave. to get her hair braided, the owners locked the doors, fearful ICE would enter the business and detain employees.
"That was my first time really realizing how ICE was affecting my direct community," Weefur said.
Weefur said she hopes people know that these protests aren't isolated to Los Angeles — and that they are not about a single group of immigrants.
"All immigrants ... we all make this country great. Without immigrants this country would be nothing," Weefur said.
Additional protests are planned for the Kansas City area this Saturday, June 14, as part of the national "No Kings" movement.
Local events will be held at Mill Creek Park in Kansas City, at West 119th Street and Blue Valley Parkway and at Prairiefire in Overland Park, at Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park in Lenexa, and in Lee's Summit.
