Mayor Asks Migrants to Move to His City: 'All Are Welcome'

Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas is receiving plenty of blowback from his Republican counterparts after inviting migrants from sanctuary cities to live and work in the Midwest.

Lucas, a Democrat re-elected in 2023 with more than 80 of the vote, said in an X post on Tuesday about migrants that "all are welcome." He extended a hand to some of the cities hit hardest by migrants coming across U.S. borders the past couple of years, notably Denver and New York City.

Both cities, in addition to Chicago, have been at the forefront of continually dealing with what officials have deemed a crisis that doesn't seem to remedy itself, partially due to a lack of funding from the federal government and rising illegal entries year over year.

"All are welcome in Kansas City. Proud to work with my fellow mayors like @MikeJohnstonCO [Denver Mayor Mike Johnston] and @NYCMayor [NYC Mayor Eric Adams] as we work to ensure decompression of new arriving communities and collaboration among cities, labor, non-profits, and federal officials," Lucas wrote Tuesday on X.

Newsweek reached out to Lucas' office via phone and email for further comment.

Lucas told Bloomberg that he has already been in contact with those mayors to formulate some kind of plan that could make the situation tenable for all involved, and possibly lead to action after Kansas City better knows its own migrant capacity after Memorial Day.

He admitted that welcoming migrants would require more local budgetary decisions, notably towards housing, training and language services. The current fiscal year budget allots $1 million for short-term rehousing, healthcare and job training programs for refugees and migrants, though the city has seen nowhere near the volume of migrants come through as others mentioned.

"We need a lot more employees," said Lucas, who wants migrants legally permitted to contribute. "If there are people who are willing and ready to work, then I believe that there could be a place for them."

A source within Adams' office told Newsweek on Thursday that the mayor is always conducting outreach and communicating with partners nationwide to collaborate in managing what was described as a national humanitarian crisis.

Potential political rivals wasted no time scrutinizing Lucas.

"Good grief! The Mayor should be protecting the people of Kansas City, and instead is taking away protection to import lawlessness. Missouri is not a sanctuary for criminals," wrote Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft on Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter.

Ashcroft, son of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, is running for governor to unseat Lucas. He told Newsweek via email that Lucas' messaging is not productive.

"We've lost control of our border and I reject the idea that we should allow sanctuary cities in Missouri, nor encourage those in the country illegally to relocate in our state," Ashcroft said. "As governor, I will make certain we maintain order and I will put a stop to any efforts to encourage this behavior.

"Other cities who foolishly adopted these policies clearly regret it and I do not want to see that happen here."

Missouri Lieutenant Governor Mike Kehoe, another Republican vying for the gubernatorial seat, ripped Lucas in multiple social media posts and in a local radio interview—including claiming that Lucas is turning Kansas City into a sanctuary city under "the guise of workforce development."

"Can I use the word 'crazy' [to describe Lucas' statements]?" Kehoe said to KCMO radio host Pete Mundo on Wednesday. "It's insane to think that all the sudden, by some kind of massaging the pig up a little bit, we're gonna start talking about a workforce development effort. Actually, what it is, is a sanctuary city.

"Missourians don't want that. We have plenty of room for resources in other areas for folks here who are paying taxes. This is just insane that we would take this border crisis that's absolutely blown up...and now want to host them in one of our cities. It's beyond ridiculous."

Newsweek reached out to Kehoe via email for comment.

Kehoe also said that Lucas should "back the police" instead of migrants.

On Thursday, Lucas responded by saying that in addition to his city's 30 percent starting pay increase for officers, they've added pay increases and hiring incentives for dispatchers.

Some not in the political realm responded to Lucas with pragmatism, such as Jason Mendenhall with Heavy Construction Labors Local 663.

The state's construction and manufacturing industry is experiencing a labor shortage following a decade of progress, which Lucas said could be alleviated with asylum seekers from Latin America, for example.

"We are just not getting the volume of people that we need...This is who we are. We are a band of brothers and sisters. We don't care what you look like. We don't care where you come from. We embrace everybody," Mendenhall told FOX4KC.