How Kansas Citians protested ICE as part of national day of action
Amid a nationwide wave of opposition against ICE and immigration enforcement tactics, Kansas Citians took action Friday with protests and an economic blackout.
Multiple protests took place across the Kansas City metro area, including a demonstration in local congressmen’s offices and a protest at the Department of Homeland Security building in the Northland.
The biggest protests were at 3 p.m. at the National World War I Museum and Memorial and 5 p.m. at Oppenstein Park in downtown Kansas City, both of which The Star attended to talk to protesters and capture the scene.
Speakers urge continuing action against ICE
As part of the downtown protest, Daniel Tucker with the Missouri Workers Center read the names of several people killed by federal immigration officers, including former Kansas City resident Renee Good.
He said the list didn’t include “all the people they’ve deported, all the people that they’ve injured, all the families that they’ve broken apart, all the people in the streets that have been shot with pepper spray and rubber bullets, been injured, who’ve been attacked, who’ve been insulted.”
Other speakers applauded protesters for spending their evening at the demonstration, and many others urged continuing action.
“I’ve heard some people say, ‘we gotta stop meeting like this,’” one speaker said. “We gotta keep meeting like this!”
Protesters of all ages gather
Protesters were bundled up at Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park on Friday as they held American flags, “abolish ICE” signs and chanted several slogans.
Shortly after convening at the park, the group marched the nearby Hotel Kansas City to hand out leaflets about the building’s owner, Platform Ventures and its reported plans to sell land to ICE.
People of all ages attended the protest. Logan Smith brought his two children, who made snow angels in the snow as their father held a sign above his head.
‘I’m scared for everybody’
As a first-generation American, Pablo Muñoz said his family motivated him to go to the protest. Over his coat, Muñoz of Kansas City wore a soccer jersey emblazoned with “chinga la migra,” which roughly translates to “screw ICE.”
Muñoz said his parents can’t receive Social Security to retire, despite 30 years of working and paying taxes.
“It’s never been right the way they’ve treated immigrants,” he said.
With ICE’s increased visibility, Muñoz is concerned.
“I’m scared for everybody, not just the immigrants. If we don’t stand up, it’s like they’re gonna do it to all of us.”
‘We want ICE off our streets’
The protesters walked through several blocks of downtown, chanting slogans like “We want justice. We want peace. We want ICE off our streets.”
Signs called to abolish ICE, for justice for Alex Pretti and Renee Good, and to shut down “the whole system.”
Protesters march on building owned by company tied to ICE land sale
The 5 p.m. downtown protest is underway, and protesters have marched from Oppenstein Park to Hotel Kansas City, which is owned by Platform Ventures.
The local real estate company owns land in south Kansas City that it’s widely speculated is being sold to ICE for a massive detention center. A growing movement has been calling on the company to stop the sale.
Protesters on Friday handed out leaflets in front of the hotel, telling patrons about its rumored connection to the potential land sale.
Wife trying to stop deportation shows up at Homeland Security field office
Kristine Andrade came to the Homeland Security building in desperation, without a coat.
Andrade said Carlos, her husband from Venezuela, was detained by immigration officials less than 48 hours ago.
“This was my last hope, that I file this paperwork to stop the deportation,” Andrade said, holding back tears. “Because of this protest they shut the doors and now I can’t stop it.”
As demonstrators offered her their coats, Andrade said she was freezing, but would leave soon.
“Tonight he’ll be in Mexico,” she said.
‘Keep showing them’
Mitch Schiller, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation - Kansas City, spoke about how attendees could get involved to remind them to remember their power as workers.
“Don’t let them tell you that this isn’t significant,” Schiller said. “And also prepare for the next one, because we’re just going to keep showing them what it means to be powerful.”
The protest ended with chants of “Whose streets? Our streets.”
Anti-ICE organizers discuss potential detention center
An organizer with Decarcerate KC updated protest attendees at the memorial grounds about their call to action in hopes of shutting down the sale of a Kansas City warehouse for a potential ICE facility.
They said that since that callout on Monday, more than 1,000 phone calls and text messages had been made to Platform Ventures, the company who is overseeing the sale, but activists had not heard any word back on their efforts from the company.
‘Beyond the pale’
As the snow fell and wind chills dipped lower, Thomas Muther of Topeka said the cold wasn’t as bad as Minneapolis.
He held a sign “Renee Good V. Evil (ICE).”
Motivated by Renee Good’s killing, Muther went to Minnesota for a week to protest. He braved wind chills of negative 43 degrees to dance and sing in front of the federal building there.
“I’m absolutely opposed to this administration, every way you can be opposed to it. But what ice is doing right now is just beyond the pale,” Muther said.
Muther stands on street corners all over, from Arkansas and Oklahoma to all over Kansas and Missouri.
“This is my 268th straight day of protesting,” he said.
Protesters outside Homeland Security building disperse
About 75 people braved the frigid air, which felt like -3 degrees, on Ambassador Drive in Kansas City’s Northland.
Outside a local building owned by the Department of Homeland Security, they chanted, “No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA.”
The protest organized by KC ICE Breakers went from about 1 to 3 p.m.
Why protesters came out to WWI Memorial
Speakers on the memorial grounds spoke about the need for action and their hopes it could change the escalating enforcement across the country.
One spoke about being inspired by the movements in Minneapolis and wanting to lend them KC’s support.
“We all saw how Minnesota responded last Friday … to get ICE out of their communities,” Nate Davis told the crowd.
“As a witness to American history,” another speaker said, “I can assure you: All these small actions will add up. We can make a change. We can keep our neighbors safe.”
‘I wanted to do something’
Sara Quenzer was one of dozens of Kansas Citians who braved freezing temperatures to protest ICE’s sweeping immigration crackdown.
She grew emotional while talking about why she came to a protest outside the National WWI Museum and Memorial.
“I have loved ones who are people of color and immigrants and so I’ve been scared for them,” she said. “I wanted to do something.”
Quenzer brought to the protest a sign that read: “Immigrants make America. ICE destroys communities.”
“With everything going on, I just wanted to make sure I showed up,” she said.
Protest at the World War I Memorial
The crowd at the World War I Museum and Memorial, on the grounds of what used to be called the Liberty Memorial, quickly grew as it began at 3 p.m., without a few hundred people in attendance.
Protesters were shouting “Down with ICE! Shut it down!” as they waited for speeches to begin.
The demonstration was organized by Party for Socialism and Liberation - Kansas City.
Attempted demonstrations at Northland offices
Earlier in the day, demonstrators intended to protest at the offices of U.S. Rep. Sam Graves and U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt in the Northland.
However, signs outside the building Friday afternoon said, “No Trespassing.”
Jessica Piper, Missouri activist, said in an Instagram video that a person at the building threatened to tow her vehicle. When she asked to meet with her congressman’s staffers, guards turned her away at the door.
At 2:30 p.m., no protesters were on the site, but cars still drove into the parking lot and turned around.
Other KC-area anti-ICE actions
The national day of action follows ICE enforcement efforts in Minneapolis that resulted in two deaths — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — as well as additional shootings in cities such as Chicago.
Both Good and Pretti were shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis. Good was a former Kansas City resident.
ICE operations have been increasing in the Kansas City area over the last few weeks, with a possible detention center site in the southern portion of the city. Organizers have also been working on ways to try and stop the sale of the facility, but the company who owns the building, Platform Ventures, said previously that negotiations are complete.
This story was originally published January 30, 2026 at 3:26 PM.
