Kansas ICE prison is one step closer to opening after planning commission vote

Hello, Star readers.

Today, we’re diving into the tense public hearing in Leavenworth where CoreCivic scored a major victory in its yearlong quest to reopen a shuttered prison as an ICE detention center.

Next, we’ll get into:

• ‘Gut and go’: Behind the slick tactics that Kansas Republican lawmakers used to prevent public comment on a bill policing trans people in public restrooms.

• Impeaching Noem: 85% of House Democrats have signed onto the articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Here’s why Rep. Sharice Davids has not.

This week in politics

Despite refusing to do so for almost a year, CoreCivic’s decision to follow Leavenworth’s zoning process guaranteed the public at least three opportunities to weigh in on the proposed ICE prison.

The first public hearing was a four-hour affair Monday evening that ended in the planning commission voting 5-1 to recommend approving the private prison chain’s special use permit application.

It will ultimately be up to the City Commission to decide whether the shuttered facility can be reopened under a contract with ICE that would allow for more than 1,000 detainees.

Mike Sandejas said he moved to Leavenworth with his family last June, drawn by the promise of good wages as a prison guard.

“The continued delays have been discouraging for my family and I,” Sandejas said.

“We are committed to this community and believe strongly in contributing to its growth and civility.”

Sister Jean Anne Panisko of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth called CoreCivic “a drain on the city’s tax dollars.” She pointed to dire conditions in the company’s other ICE detention centers as evidence that CoreCivic can’t be trusted to reopen responsibly.

“The cruel conditions in California ICE detention centers, the remote facility in the Mojave Desert and in downtown Bakersfield demonstrate that human dignity is not their core value, but profit,” Panisko said.

At times, the hearing became heated.

Read what else community members had to say about CoreCivic’s plan.

More from this past week

• Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves is calling for “drastic” cuts to the department’s budget to address a budget imbalance. But she was just given a raise.

• Opinion: The brothers behind Platform Ventures still have time to decide against selling a massive warehouse to ICE. Kansas City is watching, writes Star columnist David Hudnall.

• A Kansas man who participated in the Jan. 6 riot says he and other protesters were treated too harshly. But he sees no double standard on guns in light of recent Minnesota killings.

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That’s all for now! See you next week.

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This story was originally published February 4, 2026 at 2:06 PM.