The Kansas City Defender

The Web Is Not Enough — Why These Left Media Workers Are Opening Physical Spaces Corporations control the internet, so grassroots media workers are creating in-person spaces to build collective power.

Left media workers & publishers are opening physical spaces aimed at building collective power.

my latest for @truthout.org

truthout.org/articles/the...

Thank you for sharing our piece!

KCPD Holds Taxpayers Hostage While Shielding a Killer in Blue – The Kansas City Defender The department has received $1.2 billion since 2022. Now it claims it can't afford basic services while an officer who has killed three people remains on patrol. A Kansas City Defender investigation.

"Every dollar spent settling lawsuits for [KCPD officer] Blayne Newton’s violence is a dollar stolen from mental health services, from housing, from education, from the material conditions that actually produce safety. @kcdefender.bsky.social

kansascitydefender.com/justice/kcpd...

BREAKING: Kansas City is one of seven "mega centers" in ICE's planned nationwide concentration camp network.

A local real estate company, Platform Ventures, sold out Kansas City by selling a taxpayer-subsidized warehouse to make it happen.

Federal agents are already terrorizing KC residents. 🧵

Home – The Kansas City Defender The Kansas City Defender is a nonprofit digital startup producing news, digital tools and public services for Black people across the midwest.

If you want to support independent, radical, investigative journalism that holds power accountable, follow @KCDefender and subscribe to our newsletter at kansascitydefender.com

We are a nonprofit. Your support keeps us going.

Kansas City at Center of ICE Nationwide Concentration Camp Network – The Kansas City Defender ICE is moving on plans to make Kansas City one of seven "mega centers" in its unprecedented concentration camp network. A local real estate company, Platform Ventures, “sold out” Kansas City by sellin...

Read the rest of our investigation here:

kansascitydefender.com/national/kan...

City council members told The Kansas City Defender the ordinance will slow the process, but stopping it entirely will require sustained pressure.

This is a developing story. We will continue to investigate.

The federal government could pursue locations in neighboring Grandview, unincorporated Jackson County, or across the state line in Kansas.

Even with the moratorium, the federal government has vast authority to override local ordinances through eminent domain and the Supremacy Clause.

Asked whether the moratorium could actually stop the facility, Mayor Lucas told KSHB "I think the simplest way I can answer that is it would probably end up in court."

THE CITY'S RESPONSE

Hours after ICE conducted its site walkthrough, Kansas City's City Council voted 12-1 to pass a five-year moratorium on permits, licenses, and zoning approvals for any non-municipal carceral facility.

PUBLIC MONEY FOR CONCENTRATION CAMPS

The warehouse was built with public support on land that Kansas City spent decades developing.

Numerous pages on Platform Ventures' website now return a 404 error, including those that previously listed staff.

The company's LinkedIn profiles have been removed.

According to Councilman Duncan, their phones ring unanswered to his calls.

"Their offices have gone dark."

"We should be publicly and privately shaming Platform Ventures," Duncan said. "They are a Kansas City company that has received public dollars for years and they need to get the message that the Kansas City community does not appreciate being sold out by a local company for quick financial gain."

In an interview with The Defender, Councilman Duncan told us "calls to Platform Ventures have gone unanswered."

The statement claimed Platform Ventures was approached in October 2025 with an "unsolicited offer" to purchase what it called a "vacant industrial warehouse."

"PV does not question prospective buyers on their intent after close," the statement read.

THE SECRET DEAL

On Friday, Platform Ventures broke its silence. In a statement, the company confirmed that "all negotiations are complete."

Platform Ventures, a Kansas City-based real estate firm with $2.7 billion in assets under management, is the property owner.

Polsinelli, one of the nation's largest law firms, was the legal representative handling the transaction.

Off-camera, a Department of Homeland Security supervisor confirmed to Abarca that the facility would hold at least 7,500 people.

ICE conducted a walkthrough last Wednesday morning.
Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca arrived at the facility to observe.

Federal agents surrounded his vehicle, threatened him with arrest, shined flashlights through his windows, and blocked his truck from leaving.

THE WAREHOUSE

The concentration camp planned for Kansas City would be built in a 920,400-square-foot warehouse at 14901 Botts Road in the city's far southern reaches.

She believes agents ran her license plates when she drove past the facility.

From 2:30 PM until nightfall, she says federal vehicles circled her house.

She believes they were waiting for her to leave.

"All I did was repost something on social media that I found on social media, and take the long way home so I could see with my own eyes whether or not they showed up. That was it. That was the extent."

"I'm a 49-year-old mom of two in the suburbs with no criminal history whatsoever. I don't even have a passport. So the idea that Homeland Security would be on my front porch is crazy."

She stopped briefly to say hello to friends she recognized, spoke a few words to an Associated Press reporter, and went home.

That afternoon, Department of Homeland Security agents showed up at her front door.

The next day, after dropping her child at school, she decided to take the long way home. She wanted to see with her own eyes whether federal agents would actually show up.

She drove by the warehouse and saw news cameras, reporters, and protesters already gathered.

FEDS ATTEMPT TO INTIMIDATE LEE'S SUMMIT MOTHER
On January 14th, a woman in Lee's Summit was scrolling through Facebook when she came across the leaked DHS documents.

She saw Kansas City listed. She saw a site inspection scheduled for 9:00 AM the following morning.

Federal officials have compared the system to Amazon's logistics network.

ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons said at a border security conference that the administration aims to treat deportations "like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings."

They would then be staged for trafficking to unknown locations, including the CECOT torture camp in El Salvador and other concentration camps throughout South America and Africa.

People kidnapped by ICE would be held in "processing sites" for a few weeks before being funneled into one of seven large-scale concentration camps holding 5,000 to 10,000 people each.

A leaked document marked 'FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY' reveals that Kansas City is one of seven 'mega centers' planned across the country, part of a nationwide concentration camp network.

The Kansas City Defender obtained the spreadsheet independently and verified its authenticity.