ICE Enforcement Surge Hits Meat Processing Plants Across Southwest Kansas

ICE launched a sweeping enforcement operation across southwest Kansas beginning Tuesday, September 23, 2026, targeting communities including Dodge City, Garden City, and Liberal, with agents stopping vehicles near National Beef plants in Dodge City and Liberal (Dodge City alone employs 2,500+ workers) and a Cargill plant in Dodge City. Liberal Vice Mayor Janeth Vazquez said officials 'first became aware Monday night' and that the community had been 'living with tremendous fear' since. Immigration advocates reported dozens detained, including a mother detained with an infant still in her car, though ICE did not disclose official figures to local officials and gave no advance notice to city or state government. Roughly 120 students missed school Wednesday at Meadowlark Elementary. Residents, including U.S. citizens, described agents making dangerous U-turns during traffic stops and racially profiling drivers; Dodge City resident Frank Duran said of his daughter Guadalupe Navarrete's traffic stop, 'They profiled us,' after she was questioned but not detained. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said ICE was targeting people with criminal warrants, a characterization advocates and local officials disputed.