Local businesses are training staff to respond to ICE encounters as immigration arrests rise across the metro and move farther into neighborhoods and workplaces.

The big picture: Immigration arrests jumped 76% in Missouri and nearly tripled in Kansas last year, according to Deportation Data Project figures analyzed by KCTV5.

• Business owners say the shift is forcing them to prepare for law enforcement situations they never expected to encounter on the job.

Zoom in: David Bulcock, co-owner of Rochester Brewing and Roasting Co., partnered with Boots on the Ground Midwest to educate the business' staff with a roughly 90-minute session focused on constitutional rights, de-escalation and how to respond if federal agents arrive.

• "We wanted our staff to know what to do so they're not shocked or panicked," he tells Axios. "The goal is safety."

What they're saying: The demand for these "Know Your Rights" training sessions has increased exponentially, Nancy Mays with Boots on the Ground Midwest tells Axios.

• "We've reached out to roughly 1,000 businesses across the metro," says Mays. "About 80% have asked for the materials or a training."
• She says most owners are not looking to make political statements, adding, "They don't want signs. They want to know their rights and how to keep people safe."

Mays emphasized that the sessions are informational but don't contain legal advice.

• "This is about knowing your constitutional rights and de-escalation. We're not lawyers, we're just telling you how to get out of a burning building," she said.

How it works: The trainings draw on information from the Roeland Park DEI Committee and Project RISE, a city-backed small business initiative.

• The materials outline what questions employees can decline to answer and note that a judicial warrant is generally required to enter private spaces.
• Organizers emphasize de-escalation, framing the guidance as a way for businesses to protect staff and customers amid an increase in enforcement activity they say is no longer confined to jails.

The bottom line: With immigration enforcement moving into neighborhoods and workplaces, KC business owners are responding with staff training focused on safety and de-escalation.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said a possible Kansas City ICE detention center is "un-American" in an interview with CNN yesterday.

The big picture: The mayor warned against an increasing ICE presence, saying he's opposed to a new facility and worried that more agents will lead to violence.

We are fundamentally opposed. What they're talking about is a facility between 5,000 and 10,000 humans who will be warehoused in something that was built as an Amazon distribution facility. And the attractiveness of the site is because it's next to railroads. I don't like big encampments next to train tracks and all of that. I think that is terribly un-American.

Flashback: Reports of ICE agents touring a south KC warehouse earlier this month generated a flurry of activity from county and local leaders.

• KCMO's City Council passed an ordinance later that day barring all local permits, licenses or approvals for any "non-municipal detention facility."

The other side: ICE did not respond to Axios' requests for comment regarding the mayor's interview.

• The agency previously told Axios it doesn't have any new facilities to announce, but that it is expanding its capacity.

🚦 KC will start enforcing Main Street's transit-only lanes on Sunday, with fines of $50+ and possible towing for drivers who block streetcars or buses. (Press release)

🏛️ All nine GOP U.S. House members from Kansas and Missouri voted to fund ICE and DHS, and the states' three Democratic representatives opposed the $10 billion bill, citing recent fatal shootings by federal agents and lack of oversight. (Kansas City Star)

🛒 Price Chopper will close in February, marking the Cosentino family's first-ever store closure in KC. (KCTV)

The U.S. population grew just 0.5% from July 2024 to July 2025, per new Census Bureau estimates, adding 1.8 million people.

Why it matters: That's the slowest rate since the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the population grew by an anemic 0.2%.

What they're saying: Census assistant division chief Christine Hartley: The slowdown "is largely due to a historic decline in net international migration, which dropped from 2.7 million to 1.3 million."

• Births and deaths, meanwhile, remained "relatively stable."

Between the lines: The numbers offer some insight into the effects of President Trump's immigration crackdown, though it's an incomplete view.

• Because of the time period covered, they capture only the first few months of Trump's second term — reflecting his early immigration efforts, but not more recent surges, such as in Minnesota.

Reality check: The slowdown comes after a year of breakneck gains; the U.S. population grew by 1% (3.2 million people) from 2023-2024.

• That was the fastest growth rate since 2006, the Bureau notes.

Go deeper: Kansas City metro grew by nearly 25,000 in 2024