Wyandotte County law enforcement: We’re not looped in on ICE talks, arrests
The Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office and the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, according to current policies, will likely not be involved in any potential future ICE raids and non-U.S. residents won’t be detained in Wyandotte County solely based on their immigration status, law enforcement officials told The Star.
That said, those policies may be subject to change. The county sheriff’s office said that it’s likely their approach to immigration policing and detainment will change as they observe shifting regulations and guidance from federal agencies.
As rumors of arrests and raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers swirl in Kansas City, Kansas, and play out in other parts of the country, the two agencies said they have no information confirming whether new ICE activity has happened locally, or when it might. And despite officials’ uncertainty, concerns within the diverse county – with about 17.7% of residents being from other countries – are widespread.
Rapidly upon taking office, President Donald Trump ordered tighter immigration policing and has called on federal agencies to increase deportations and arrests of undocumented people across the U.S. During Trump’s first 100 days in office, ICE arrested 66,463 people and deported 65,682, according to the agency.
In February, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation entered an agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that would allow some KBI officers to receive specialized training that would allow them to arrest and detain non-U.S. citizens. State Affairs – an outlet that offers political insight and analysis – reported last week that state officers have not yet received that training.
And although DHS and KBI may arrest people who are undocumented, cases specifically targeting undocumented residents do not currently involve the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office or KCKPD.
Sheriff Daniel Soptic told The Star this week that he hasn’t heard of any plans for ICE raids locally, although it’s possible for non-citizens to be arrested by local law enforcement for separate crimes not linked to their citizenship status. He said anyone arrested for a local charge, like theft, would be booked into the jail and released upon making bond or their local charge being cleared, whether they’re a citizen or not.
The Wyandotte County Jail does not detain people solely for their immigration status nor does it detain people on behalf of other agencies if they’re already cleared of their local charge or unless they have an immigration warrant. The office will contact ICE when it books an undocumented person into its jail, Soptic said.
Task forces that often include local officers, U.S. Marshals and ICE do conduct separate investigations on various crimes, Soptic said. The federal officers do have authority to arrest someone for being a non-citizen if they discover that person’s citizenship status during an investigation.
Nancy Chartrand, public information officer for KCKPD, told The Star that DHS operates separately and the police department does not directly do enforcement on immigration. However, DHS could call the department in for assistance.
“(Homeland Security Investigations) is a federal agency and works independently,” Chartrand wrote in a message. “They do not inform us of their plans.”
DHS as of publication time did not respond to questions seeking whether any raids have actually occurred in Wyandotte County or neighboring counties; whether other federal officers – like U.S. Marshals – will conduct arrests; and whether the local government plans to inform local agencies before conducting raids in communities, among others.
Local concerns
Community members in recent weeks have widely shared unconfirmed, and at times disproved, social media posts reporting ICE raids and mass-arrests.
And although it’s unclear what the agency’s presence has been in KCK, people are clearly concerned.
Although he doesn’t want to discount local concerns, Soptic said fear mongering on social media without proof can be problematic. He said people should confirm the information they’re sharing before scaring their neighbors.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, held a community listening session on Jan. 31 in response to Trump’s executive orders. During that meeting, leadership from Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR), called on the UG to adopt policies that protect its immigrant population, KHSB 41 reported. They also said the group was hearing a lot of misinformation and regularly fielded calls from people who were scared to leave their homes out of fear of being detained.
AIRR offers a regular Know Your Rights training that, among other key points, outlines:
- How to identify ICE officers and vehicles;
- How to calmly address officers if they approach you;
- What residents’ First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights are;
- Not to answer the door without proof of a warrant;
- The right to record police interactions and to remain silent;
- The right to due process;
- How to locate someone who has been detained.
Known detainees elsewhere
ICE arrested a KCK resident, Edgar Sanchez-Solis, earlier this month for allegedly participating in a group operation that included illegally transporting people into the United States, DHS said in a May 12 news release. Sanchez-Solis, who DHS said was from Mexico and did not have legal status in the United States, was detained at the Federal Correctional Institution in Leavenworth.
ICE arrested Rosmery Alvarado, who lived in Pittsburgh, Kansas, in late April when she came to Kansas City for her green card interview. Alvarado, who was born in Guatemala, was detained in the Chase County Detention Center in Cottonwood Falls, where other people arrested for their immigration status have also been sent recently.
In February, 12 employees of El Potro Mexican Restaurant in Liberty were arrested by ICE after a raid on the restaurant that ICE told officials was tied to a search for a child sex offender. The Clay County Sheriff’s Office was not informed of the raid ahead of time.
The Chase County Detention Center as of May 13 detained 31 people that it labeled in its inmate search system as “deportable aliens.” The report did not list those inmates’ U.S. residences or their countries of origin.
This story was originally published May 16, 2025 at 1:27 PM.
