Local officials in Kansas City celebrated when a development company abandoned plans last week to sell a warehouse to the U.S. government for the purpose of becoming a 7,500-bed immigration detention center — including Reps. Sharice Davids of Kansas and Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri.
The Democrats had raised concerns in letters to the Department of Homeland Security about the deal and are among the members of Congress from at least 10 states who have written letters or taken other action to try to halt immigration detention facilities that would affect their constituents.
“Community voices matter,” Davids said after the announcement. “This site was intended to support economic development and job creation — not to house a massive ICE detention facility that would strain infrastructure, divert resources from local law enforcement, and undermine public safety.”
