A suspected far-left activist in Kansas City, Mo., allegedly tried to burn down a warehouse that had been considered for use as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.
The Kansas City, Mo., Police Department is looking for the arsonist, who is captured on video tossing something at the building, lighting a match and setting it on fire.
The woman then sprays what appears to be lighter fluid on the building to accelerate the fire. She was unmasked and wearing jeans, a black shirt and black sandals.
Witnesses reported the woman walked up to the south KCMO warehouse building, located at 14901 Botts Road, around 5:50 p.m. Thursday and attempted to set it on fire, KMBC 9 News reported.
Anti-ICE activists had set up shop there and staged protests since news broke last month that the warehouse was being considered as a possible ICE detention facility.
Platform Ventures, an investment firm based in Kansas City, owns the property known as 49 Crossing and had faced backlash after rumors spread of a possible sale to the U.S. government.
Earlier on Thursday, Feb. 12, Platform Ventures said it decided “not to move forward” with selling the vacant warehouse to the federal government, local outlets KSHB 41 and KMCB 9 News reported.
“Platform Ventures is not actively engaged with the U.S. Government or any other prospective purchaser involving a sale of its property at the I-49 Industrial Center,” the company said in a statement. “While typically we do not comment on potential transactions, baseless speculation, inaccurate narratives and serious threats toward our leadership, our employees and our families have prompted us to issue this statement.”
Community groups, such as DecarcerateKC, have been protesting and rallying at the site since news broke last month of a possible sale to the feds for an ICE detention facility. The activists have urged Platform Ventures not to go through with the sale.
Independent journalist Andy Ngo also shared the footage on X, adding “Democrat mayor @QuintonLucasKC staunchly opposes ICE and leftists are cheering on the attack.”
KCFD firefighters were called to the scene and put out the fire before it had a chance to spread, according to KCTV. No one was injured. The woman left the scene after starting the fire and remains at large, according to police.
News began to spread last month about the site’s potential future as an immigration detention center after local reports that federal officials were touring south Kansas City locations.
KMBC 9 News reported on Jan. 15 that Department of Homeland Security and ICE agents were seen touring the 900,000-square-foot warehouse near Missouri Highway 150 and Botts Road. The vacant building was part of the former Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base.
After a report in the Washington Post, U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo, began the campaign to thwart any detention center from opening in the area. Cleaver and other leaders condemned such a facility in the Kansas City area in a letter to ICE.
This week, Cleaver and fellow Kansas City-area Congresswoman Rep. Sharice Davids, D-3rd District, Kansas, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for more information regarding plans for the building, KSHB News reported.
Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca previously said on social media that he confirmed reports that DHS and ICE wanted to build what he called a “mega detention facility.”
Folks, I shared the below video in nearly the moments it happened:
I was informed that ICE/DHS was touring a potential “mega detention facility” in south #KansasCity and decided to stop by.
As I was observing, from my truck at a taxpayer subsidized facility; I was swarmed by… pic.twitter.com/PF6g52gO6s
— Manny Abarca (@MannyAbarcaIV) January 15, 2026
Early on, Mayor Quinton Lucas and other Democrat officials denounced the plan. Lucas said in a news release his office was trying to confirm plans for a potential detention center but that it would work to ensure that “no such facility” comes to the Kansas City area.
Lucas and the City Council passed an ordinance on Jan. 15 approving a five-year moratorium on any non-municipal detention or corrections facilities, KMBC reported.
On Jan. 16, KMBC reported that Platform Ventures said in a statement it didn’t discuss sales or question prospective buyers, but that negotiations had been completed.
At the time, Platform Ventures, which acquired the building from Port KC in 2022, said it was approached in October 2025 with an “unsolicited offer” to purchase the vacant warehouse.
The Kansas City-based firm said it had a fiduciary duty to review the offer, but declined further comment. Documents from Port KC, posted online in late January, revealed ICE was interested in acquiring the property, KSHB 41 reported.
On Thursday, following Platform Ventures’ announcement, ICE officials did not respond to KSHB 41’s request for comment.
While the region’s two congressional Democrats are active in their opposition, U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, R-4th District, Missouri, has expressed support for opening an ICE detention center in Cass County, south of Kansas City.
“As we said in our recent letter to the Department of Homeland Security, the Fourth District would welcome federal law enforcement facilities,” Alford said in a statement to KSHB 41 News. “As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I will continue to work with the Trump Administration to ensure it has the resources needed to repatriate criminal illegal aliens to their countries of origin. We will always stand with law enforcement from ICE to our local police officers.”
