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Witnesses say La Fontanella raid left with detainees despite search-warrant paperwork; call for sheriff to produce warrants
Summary
Eyewitnesses at a Jackson County public hearing said ICE left a food warehouse with detained people after being served a search warrant for documents; speakers asked the sheriff to produce warrants and detainee names to show legal basis for detentions.
Several witnesses at the July 15 public hearing described a July 9 enforcement action at a northeast Kansas City food warehouse and said the business was served with a search warrant for documents while ICE detained people.
"Nowhere on this warrant does it say anything about criminal," Brett Hamilton said, describing the copy of the first page of a warrant he said was handed to the business. Hamilton and other witnesses said ICE left the site with six detained individuals and that deputies who were present refused to identify themselves to observers.
Benjamin Ressler, who said he was present for the operation, urged the sheriff to produce the warrant and the names of those detained. "If that is the case, the sheriff should produce that warrant and the name of that person for the safety of this community as well as the names of all the people detained that day," he said.
Witnesses described patterns they said repeated at other restaurants and businesses and asked the legislature to use its oversight tools to request documents and testimony from the sheriff's office. The legislature could not take action at the July 15 meeting because it lacked a quorum; the chair said an ordinance addressing cooperation with ICE is slated for the next meeting and that the finance and audit committee would likely review related materials.
