Justice Archives – The Kansas City Defender

Kansas City at Center of ICE Nationwide Concentration Camp Network

By Ryan S. ● National ● January 21, 2026

ICE is eyeing to make Kansas City one of seven “mega centers” in its unprecedented concentration camp network. A local real estate company, Platform Ventures, may “sell out” Kansas City by selling a taxpayer-subsidized warehouse to make it happen. And federal agents are already terrorizing KC residents & going door-to-door.

Latest in Justice

Kansas City Passes 5-Year Ban on Mass Detention Facilities

By Ryan S. ● Immigration ● January 16, 2026

The move blocks permits for non-municipal detention centers as the Trump regime eyes KC for a 10,000-person ICE concentration camp

Damning Transcript Exposes Truth Behind Holy Brunch Closure

By Ryan S. ● Editorial ● December 11, 2025

What began as a federal RICO lawsuit has become one of Kansas City’s most explosive legal sagas. Now, Holy Brunch’s owner is blaming Black media for his closure and screenshotting a Black woman reporter in an expletive-laden Facebook diatribe. But court transcripts expose what he knew all along.

FOOD IS FREEDOM: Hamer Program & Black KC Farmers Continue Free Food Deliveries as SNAP Cuts Loom

By Ryan S. ● Agriculture ● October 29, 2025

The evening the food boxes arrived, a Black neighbor wept.

Bowen Tower Rent Strike: 26 Evictions and a Slumlord’s War on Black Elders

By Ryan S. ● Housing ● October 23, 2025

How a California slumlord unleashed a campaign of terror against Raytown’s Black elders—and how they’re fighting back with the city’s first rent strike

Concentration Camps, Human Trafficking, Gang Rapes: The Horrifying History Behind the Company Mayor Lucas & City Council Want to Build the World Cup Jail

By Ryan S. ● Justice ● October 10, 2025

Kansas City politicians want to pay $25 million to a company co-owned by the military contractor that built Guantanamo Bay’s torture camps, trafficked twelve men to Iraq where one was beheaded on video and eleven executed, drugged and gang-raped a 19-year-old employee before locking her in a shipping container, and was sued for poisoning over 100,000 people with deadly chemicals—a Kansas City Defender investigation reveals.

“Missouri Is Next”: Neo-Nazi Network Expanding Whites-Only Towns—Here’s Where They’re Looking

By Ryan S. ● Fascism Watch ● October 8, 2025

How a fugitive and a porn-star-turned-fascist are exploiting legal loopholes to resurrect segregation—and why they think Missouri won’t stop them

BREAKING: Albuquerque Police Department Announces Independent Investigation Into Jayvon Givan’s Death—Less Than 24 Hours After Defender Investigation and Mass Protest

By Ryan S. ● Justice ● October 7, 2025

Less than 24 hours after The Defender’s investigation, mass protest and national outcry, APD announces independent review of Jayvon Givan’s death. Here’s what it really means.

Corporate Media Dismisses Jayvon Givan Case as “Rumors”—Despite Outraged Family Demanding Answers, Hastily Cremated Body & Concealed Evidence

By Ryan S. ● Justice ● October 7, 2025

As The Kansas City Defender published deeply investigative reporting on Jayvon Givan’s suspicious public hanging, white-owned corporate media immediately parroted police talking points from a man so notorious that a city ordinance was passed because of him.

“This is a Cover-Up!”: Family of Jayvon Givan Demands Answers After Black Kansas City Man Found Hanged in New Mexico

By Ryan S. ● Justice ● October 6, 2025

Originally from the Kansas City area, Jayvon Givan was found hanged in New Mexico. Police hid his death for over a year, cremated his body before even notifying his family of his death, and called it suicide. His family is demanding a full investigation and justice for Jayvon.