The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, passed a resolution this week that could temporarily block future immigration detention centers.
In a 4-2 vote, the Planning Commission approved a two-year moratorium on special-use permits for jails and detention centers. If the moratorium goes into effect, it would also pause pending permit applications.
Commissioner Jim Ernst, who voted against the resolution, asked if the ban was merely a symbolic move, since there has been no indication of detention facilities coming to Wyandotte County. There have also been questions raised in municipalities that have passed similar bans over whether they could actually block a federal detention center.
But residents pushed back Monday, saying it would ease concerns in the community over proposed immigration detention facilities in Kansas City, Missouri, and Leavenworth, Kansas.
“I think the climate in this country, unfortunately, is at a place where people are scared,” said Kansas City, Kansas, resident Eva Garcia-Meza. “And I think taking a proactive approach to putting this kind of messaging out there would send some way to pacify some of the fear that the community is feeling.”
“I've seen firsthand my neighbors and people in this community get dragged away by ICE with no due process and disappeared,” said resident Ty Gorman.
Several residents supported passing a resolution ahead of any attempts to place immigration detention facilities in Wyandotte County — especially as plans are unfolding nearby in Kansas and Missouri.
“This community and other people here and to our west are actively fighting facilities that they’re trying to put in place in Leavenworth County,” Gorman said.
In January, Kansas City, Missouri, approved a five-year moratorium on correctional and detention facilities just hours after the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement toured a Kansas City warehouse.
On Monday, Port KC commissioners voted to terminate and refrain from any negotiations with Platform Ventures, the company that owns the south Kansas City warehouse rumored to be part of a federal plan to convert such spaces into immigration detention facilities.
In a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials on Wednesday, Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids expressed strong opposition to plans of opening ICE detention centers in Kansas City, including the proposed facilities in Kansas City, Missouri, and Leavenworth.
The Wyandotte County Board of Commissioners will discuss the resolution at their Feb. 26 meeting.
