When Stephen Parish first moved into the Kansas City, Missouri, Northeast neighborhood, he said the first person to welcome him was the man who lived next door.
His neighbor was a stay-at-home father with a wife and four kids – his youngest being 4 years old. His wife worked evening shifts in healthcare, so he often shuttled his eldest to soccer practice or took the kids to school.
“He'd always say hello. He’d always had a smile. We never had any disagreements,” Parish said. “There were times our vehicles had been broken into, and we would get a hold of one another.”
The father was mowing his lawn on July 6 at roughly 7:40 a.m. when five masked officers wearing military tactical vests and plain clothing approached his front yard and detained him. Parish said the incident happened in a matter of minutes – the front door of his neighbor’s house was still left open after the arrest.
“(His wife) was then woken up by her children saying, 'Daddy's gone, we don't know where Daddy is,’” Parish said. “He wasn't given a chance to wake his wife, tell them what happened. Wasn't given a chance to let his kids know he'll be okay.”
As of July 10, his neighbor still remains in lockdown. KCUR is not disclosing any of the family members’ names out of respect for their privacy.
This case is one of the dozens reported across the Kansas City metro during the World Cup, amid intensified immigrant enforcement operations being reported across the country.
Tyra Chantelle of the KC Community Defense Coalition, which operates a hotline to report ICE activity, confirmed 30 ICE arrests in the metro between June 15 and July 3, though the total number of cases is unclear. Advocates know residents will not report every ICE sighting or interaction.
“They really amped up, which it is typical to see ICE activity ramp up in the summertime,” said Chantelle.
Enforcement activities are primarily concentrated in Wyandotte County and Johnson County, particularly in Kansas City, Kansas, Olathe, Kansas, and Northeast Kansas City. Both counties serve densely populated Hispanic, Latino and immigrant communities in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
As of 2024, roughly 74.6% of Wyandotte County residents identify as Hispanic or Latinè, while nearly a third (29.9%) of Johnson County residents identify as Hispanic or Latinè.
“We work just as hard as the next guy or even harder. We put all of our effort into the well-being of our families, our communities, and are an engine to the economy," said Edgar Galicia, a Mexican immigrant and Executive Director at Central Area Betterment Association. "Why are we not being appreciated?”
Alison Hawkins, a 36-year-old Strawberry Hill resident, posted on Facebook that she witnessed an ICE arrest on June 27, where four vehicles blocked a Chevrolet Silverado at the intersection of 6th Street and Central Avenue to detain a man. 10 officers were involved.
“It was five guys wearing full military tactic gear, and there were (five) guys who were not wearing officer gear that looked like regular lawn workers pulling a lawn trailer,” Hawkins said. “They parked their car in a way to block the intersection to help abduct this person.”
Tarrence Maddox also posted a video of the arrest, adding that one of the officers wearing tactical gear drove away in the detained man’s truck after the arrest.
On July 9, 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.
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.
No witnesses or employees saw the warrant and KCUR has not been able to independently confirm its existence.
A national trend
The uptick in local enforcement is an extension of federal efforts.
The New York Times reported that nationwide immigrant arrests surged to 10,000 roughly between June 25 and July 1 – top ICE officials were informed they should put 80% of their officers on arrest operations.
The Trump administration also upped the agency’s budget through the Secure America Act. The $70 billion budget reconciliation bill essentially provides long-term funding for border security and immigration enforcement operations through fiscal year 2029.
This act includes an additional $350 million funding for ICE to target so-called sanctuary cities that defy federal immigration laws, an initiative pushed by Missouri Republican U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt.
ICE officials were told that the White House would increase enforcement standards to 2,000 arrests a day, reported by The Times. According to three officials with knowledge of the conversations, one of the officials said that it is unclear how long they plan to maintain the standard.
Kansas policies
Kansas became the second state to give state law enforcement the authority to push federal immigration laws, under ICE’s oversight. In February 2025, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, allowing sheriffs to assist ICE in immigrant enforcement operations.
Local partnership with ICE is laid out under its 287(g) program, which is part of a broader federal program assisting in ICE operations. Missouri Highway Patrol, a state agency, also signed the agreement dating back to 2008.
As of July 2, 2026, ICE has signed 2,070 Memorandums of Agreement for 287(g) programs covering 39 states and 2 U.S. Territories, including 76 law enforcement agencies across Kansas and Missouri.
Kansas House Bill 2372 also went into effect on July 1, 2026, which gives law enforcement discretionary power to arrest anyone who they say distracts them from carrying out duties, or who poses a risk to people or property. The 25-feet buffer zone will apply to all first responders, including ICE agents and other federal officers.
The legislation also grants immunity for any civil liability to officers and agencies “acting in good faith” under a 287(g) agreement or detainer.
Galicia said the increased surveillance alongside the lack of local transparency is eroding community trust with the Kansas City, Kansas, police department.
“The psychosis that the community holds makes them see a police patrol going by, stopping in the traffic violation, anything like that. And it brings the memory – brings the fear – because you don't know who's there and what they're doing,” Galicia said.
Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas said Kansas City will not cooperate with those who make immigrant communities anywhere in the metro unsafe or unwelcome, as reported by Te Lo Cuento News.
“I will always protect the community here. We will do everything we can to fight anyone who makes people feel unwelcome, whether (or not) that comes from the United States government,” he said.
How arrests impact deportation cases
Immigration Attorney Scott Girard of Girard Immigration Law said CoreCivic's detention center in Leavenworth brought in almost 1,000 new inmates over the last two to three weeks.
But this influx of inmates has also created a demand for more immigration attorneys. Some attorneys do not handle deportation cases, and most must limit the number of cases they can accept.
“Immigration cases are difficult to begin with,” Girard said. “Detained cases are even more difficult because you're looking at a really short time period to get things done.”
Since the Trump administration has amped up deportation efforts in the last year, immigration cases that typically take years to prepare are now condensed into two weeks in between court hearings. Sometimes cases are being done within two to three months.
How long a client stays in detention depends on the circumstances. If they are eligible for a bond, they could stay in the facility for a few weeks before they are released. If they qualify for immigration relief and are waiting for a court hearing, it could be a couple months.
“(Immigration judges are) part of the department of justice. They're getting pressure from their superiors within the administration to get these cases finished,” Girard said. “So, the expenses are one thing, but the time – that is such a crunch.”
While attorney fees vary, legal representation often costs several thousands of dollars due to the intense level of work often performed in a short timeframe.
“If their country won't issue a passport or accept them back, some people (will be) detained for several months," Girard said. "There are a lot of people who give up instead of waiting in jail."
‘They just know they're gone’
But the legal process that follows after someone is in sudden detention fails to compare with the grief of having a loved one or neighbor displaced.
“You're dealing with humans who have families,” Parish said. “When you come in and just take someone and don't give them an opportunity to let loved ones know what's happening, they don't know if they were in an accident, they don't know if they were hurt – they just know they're gone.”
As of July 10, community forums and advocacy groups across Kansas City continue to report ICE operations on social media.
Grassroots local organizations like Entre Nos KC offer educational resources and mutual aid to Latinè or Hispanic communities in Kansas City. Other nonprofits such as Asylum Clinic KC offer accessible legal services to local immigrants.
The hopes that carry both the migrant and immigrant communities through these frightening times are many. Most who leave their birth countries will arrive in the United States, clinging to the chance for opportunity and hoping to find a better life.
Galicia says he wishes for the media to see that the biggest investor in Kansas City is the immigrant community.
“We're part of the society. We're part of the economy. We're part of the community,” Galicia said.
