KANSAS CITY (AP) —A Jackson County official says he met ICE officials looking at a large, potential detention space in Kansas City.
Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca posted a video on social media of two federal agents telling him he was trespassing after he showed up at a nearly 1-million-square-foot (93,000-square-meter) warehouse on the outskirts of Kansas City.
He says he was ultimately allowed to enter the building and that officials told him they were looking for locations for a large facility. He told The Associated Press that one of the officials inside was Shawn Byers, the deputy field office director for ICE in Chicago.
In a statement, an ICE spokesperson did not address the Kansas City location or Abarca’s comments but said it should not come as news that the agency is working to expand detention space.
ICE was given $45 billion for detention centers in the tax and spending bill that Trump signed last year.