Federal authorities detained and escorted a reported eight workers out of La Fontanella Foods, a food manufacturing warehouse in Northeast Kansas City, during an enforcement operation Thursday morning.
The operation, conducted by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations, occurred off Eighth and Highland streets. It began at around 9:45 a.m., and an advocacy group confirmed that ICE left the warehouse by 12:13 p.m.
Jackson County sheriffs, alongside at least seven law enforcement agents, were present at the scene. Several agents wore masks and tactical vests labeled HSI. Some arrived in plain clothes.
The operation also involved at least six unmarked vehicles with Kansas and Missouri license plates driven by the agents. One agent drove the detainees off in an unmarked white van at roughly 10:45 a.m.
Democratic State Rep. Wick Thomas, whose district covers part of Kansas City’s Historic Northeast neighborhood, said they witnessed three people being detained about 15 minutes after arriving at the scene.
“(A) family is here trying to show them that they have the authorized papers to be working here," Thomas said while one of the individuals was being detained, "but I don't know if they've released them or not.”
A worker at La Fontanella Foods said officers initially told him that no one would be taken into custody and that they were there to obtain documents. The worker said agents later detained eight people.
The immigration operation is one of the dozens reported across the Kansas City metro during the World Cup, in line with intensified enforcement operations across the country.
Agents later appeared to remove boxes of documents and computers in bags from La Fontanella Foods. Agents did not confirm what they seized.
The manager of the facility also said agents claimed they had a federal warrant to carry out the arrests. However, no witnesses or employees saw the warrant and KCUR has not been able to independently confirm its existence.
Witnesses and local advocacy groups filmed the incident. Many interrogated the officers while documenting their license plates and badge numbers. One of the officers said that they personally did not have a search warrant at hand, and that there was no point in officers carrying multiple copies.
Roger Guibor-MacBride, who livestreamed the incident on Facebook, said he showed up as law enforcement agents began escorting people out of the facility and into the white van.
“When I showed up, they had two people already in the van, and they were bringing out more,” MacBride said.
The Kansas City Star reported that a regional ICE spokesperson Robert Hughes described the operation as executing “a federal criminal search warrant in Kansas City.”
“To protect the integrity of the ongoing investigation, we cannot comment further. There is no threat to the public,” Hughes wrote.
