Lenexa residents tell officials they’re scared after ICE raided local restaurant

Lenexa resident Magaly Mieves used to walk five miles from her home on 67th Street and Quivira Road in Shawnee to 87th Street in Lenexa every day.

“(But) I don’t do it anymore because every time a black SUV comes by, I get scared,” Mieves shared during public comment at Tuesday’s Lenexa City Council meeting.

As someone with Afro-Caribbean heritage and family from Puerto Rico, she worries about federal immigration authorities stopping her and picking her up, she said.

“I’m not the only person in here that has seven pieces of identification proving my legality in this country, (but) I shouldn’t have to carry that many pieces of paper,” she said.

Mieves was one of several residents who showed up to Tuesday night’s meeting to speak about last week’s immigration raid, when federal agents arrested at least four workers at the El Toro Loco restaurant on Woodland Road.

She and others called for the City Council to take some form of action to protect the city from immigration enforcement.

At the end of Tuesday’s meeting, several council members spoke to last week’s immigration enforcement, and the police department provided more details regarding their involvement.

“This is something that kind of came as a surprise to many of us, that this trend we’ve been seeing on the news cycle or even on social media arrived to our own community,” Councilmember Melanie Arroyo said. “What these events showed us last week is that no community is safe from these raids.”

Last Wednesday, agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a unit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had arrested at least four people at El Toro Loco’s Lenexa location, and seven in Kansas City, Kansas.

In the Lenexa restaurant, the agents had left behind a warrant signed by a judge authorizing them to seize records and documents “relating to harboring, human smuggling, or labor exploitation.”

The warrant did not name any individuals to be arrested.

Role of Lenexa police

Lenexa Police Chief Dawn Layman said during public comment that she was informed a week before the raids that HSI would be executing a criminal search warrant authorized by a federal judge at the El Toro Loco Lenexa location.

“I spoke with the agent overseeing the operation about the potential presence of Lenexa officers in the parking lot during the execution of that warrant,” Layman said. “We mutually agreed that Lenexa officers would not be on site, but would remain nearby to monitor the situation if needed.”

Federal agents, like ICE or HSI, can reach out to local law enforcement ahead of any operations, but it’s not required.

“Ultimately, Lenexa police officers were not involved in the operation and were not present during the execution of the search warrant,” she said. “I do want to add that during the operation, we did receive a call from federal agents requesting assistance due to individuals blocking HSI from leaving that location, all our officers were en route.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to The Star that activists tried to interfere with the operation by “storming the restaurant, calling law enforcement Nazis, and attempting to keep officers from leaving the scene.”

“Unfortunately, these types of smears and obstruction to law enforcement operations are becoming more and more common,” McLaughlin said. “Our brave ICE law enforcement are facing an 830% increase in assaults against them as they carry out operations.”

The situation resolved and Lenexa police officers returned to duty without arriving at the scene.

“As you may have heard, the action was part of an ongoing investigation involving human trafficking and labor exploitation. As with any investigation of this nature, I urge caution in drawing conclusions or making assumptions before all facts are known,” Layman said. “I ask that we extend the same level of restraint and fairness to other agencies conducting their investigations.”

What can the city do?

Councilmember Chris Heron said that the police department “did the right thing by not showing up.”

“I want people to feel comfortable that things like this aren’t supported by us or driven by us,” Heron said. “It may not seem that way but we are truly working to make sure the policies we have, they exist for a reason to ensure our local resources keep Lenexa safe and build trust in our communities.”

Several residents called for the city to take action to prevent this from happening again, with many requesting the city put in place an ordinance that states the city will not work with the federal government or ICE agents should they come again.

No discussions have been set in stone as to what action the city can take at this time.

“I don’t know what it’s going to take for us to fix this and make sure we aren’t treating people with disrespect, without dignity, without due process, and without transparency because it’s trickling down into local governments, into situations they don’t want to be in,” Councilmember Courtney Eiterich said, adding that she’s very willing to explore the city’s options.

“I’m very sad this happened this week in our community, to our businesses, and to people who we know.”

This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 5:12 PM.