ICE brings ‘volatile’ activity to KC area. What to know & how to stay safe
Nine months into the second Trump administration, hundreds of people in the Kansas City area have been arrested and deported for immigration-related charges.
Across the country, the number of people imprisoned for immigration-related offenses increased by almost 60% between September 2024 and 2025, according to government data collected by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
According to the most recent data available, as of Sept. 15, an average of 211 people were in ICE custody in Missouri, and 148 in Kansas. A year ago, Missouri had one ICE detainee and Kansas had 78. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse did not report exact data.
The Kansas City area has seen a number of highly publicized arrests by ICE since January, when President Donald Trump took office, pushing anti-immigration tactics.
On Election Day, federal agents detained five individuals on a Lenexa road, restraining them with chains.
In July, a stove was still lit and a purse was left on a table after ICE agents arrested more than 10 people in simultaneous raids of two Mexican restaurants in KCK and Lenexa. Within a day, at least three individuals had been released.
And in February, 12 employees of a Liberty Mexican restaurant were arrested by ICE while preparing for the lunch rush. All but one had been released on bond as of October. Seven months later, a federal judge ruled the ICE agents’ actions violated a legal order. That order makes it harder for ICE to make arrests without warrants until February 2026.
Immigration attorney Rekha Sharma-Crawford represented the individuals detained in the Liberty case. She said she has seen an increase in immigration enforcement in the Kansas City area since Trump’s inauguration.
What is immigration enforcement like in the Kansas City area right now?
Sharma-Crawford said Kansas and Missouri are following national trends of what she called “more aggressive” and “volatile” enforcement.
In September, a high immigration court ruled that anyone who entered the United States without legal permission is not eligible for bond. This means that people who crossed the border decades ago could be imprisoned without seeing a judge, even though they might have cases to stay. This does not apply to people who overstayed visas.
In recent months, ICE agents began staking out at immigration courts in the Kansas City area.
Sharma-Crawford said she has not seen ICE detaining minors or U.S. citizens in the Kansas City area, which has happened in other parts of the country.
Since February, almost 40 law enforcement agencies in Kansas and Missouri have entered into 287(g) agreements with ICE. That means the Kansas Bureau of Investigations and the Missouri Highway Patrol, among others, can question people during traffic stops and make civil immigration arrests without criminal charges.
A Nov. 12 survey of the population at the Greene County Jail in Springfield, Missouri found individuals held for ICE without bail that were arrested by the Missouri Highway Patrol, Greene County Sheriff’s Office and ICE.
In September, Missouri governor Mike Kehoe announced that up to 15 Missouri National Guard soldiers could help ICE with administrative work for the next year.
But Sharma-Crawford said this move is likely aimed at sparking fear.
“I think the intent is to be coercive and to be threatening,” she said.
How are migrants affected by increased ICE activity?
Sharma-Crawford said some of her clients are paralyzed, not wanting to draw attention to themselves by filing paperwork.
Some people decided to voluntarily return to their countries of origin, Sharma-Crawford said, because they do not want to live through a second Trump presidency. She said, “they’re not going to live through the same kind of trauma that they experienced the first time.”
How can non-citizens prepare to protect themselves from ICE?
Sharma-Crawford says the time for people to educate themselves is now.
“The key here is to know what their options are before they encounter the agent,” she said.
The National Immigrant Law Center says people should carry copies of their documents and tell loved ones the locations of the originals. The organization published know-your-rights guides in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
People should schedule a consultation with a lawyer, who can give them advice on how to proceed, Sharma-Crawford said.
Look through the American Immigration Lawyers Association directory or find free and low cost attorneys on the Immigration Advocates Network and Pro Bono Net. Lawyers cannot share information about immigration status to authorities without their clients’ permission.
Sharma-Crawford recommends keeping up to date on news and double-checking social media claims with reporting from reliable sources. She especially likes international newspapers and TV stations, which she said can share less-biased information in people’s native languages.
She said preparation will “make the difference between their ability to fight for bond, to get out of custody, to go home to their families … so that they’re not steamrolled into a deportation order.”
What should non-citizens do if they encounter ICE?
The NIL and Sharma-Crawford recommend people stay polite and truthful. Don’t run away or give false documents, but feel free to say, “I am using my right to remain silent.”
Sharma-Crawford said, “If they are politely and respectfully invoking their rights, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
People don’t have to answer questions from ICE, just like they don’t have to answer questions from officers on traffic stops, but Sharma-Crawford warns that someone is likely to be detained if they choose to do so.
By invoking the Fifth Amendment and not giving them any information, she said, that could be the probable cause officers need to investigate further, which could cause officers to detain them.
She said her team tells clients to give law enforcement their names and to know the risk they’re facing if they decide to tell officers they want to speak to an attorney after invoking their rights.
If immigration enforcement knocks on the door, the resident does not have to let them in without a valid judicial warrant. This document has the words “U.S. District Court” at the top and the signature of a judge, instead of an immigration officer.
What should bystanders do if they encounter ICE?
Sharma-Crawford said onlookers should record a video but think twice before posting it.
If officers are acting unlawfully, then posting a video of ICE interactions may be useful. But if the bystander doesn’t know exactly what is happening, it could just spread fear, she said.
Both bystanders and targets of ICE have the right to record activity and interactions with immigration and law enforcement officers, so long as they do not impede them from doing their job.
Kansas City-based Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation shared these tips for recording incidents:
- Record the entirety of the incident, and narrate your experience.
- State the date and time while recording.
- Document any officer identification, like their agency, badge, numbers, uniform, name.
- Find the specific address.
- Capture any language used by the officers.
- Note any cars and the license plates and agencies if marked.
- Describe any physical force used.
What can citizens do to support immigrants?
Sharma-Crawford recommended that people volunteer for or donate money to Kansas City-area organizations like Guadalupe Centers, Jewish Vocational Services and El Centro.
“Being that active ally is worth its weight in gold,” she said.
The Star’s Joseph Hernandez, Eric Adler, Sofi Zeman, Matthew Kelly and Taylor O’Connor contributed to this report.
Want to share your story? Email Eleanor Nash at enash@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published November 14, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
