Mayor Lucas welcomes migrants to Kansas City to work

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said he has a message for migrants looking for work, “you’re welcome here,” and it’s garnering some support and criticism.

Lucas’ post on the social media platform “X” is catching the attention of state leaders. The Kansas City mayor sharing an article on “X” from Bloomberg, saying he’s working with the mayors of Denver and New York City and open to bringing migrants to Kansas City to work.

The post, catching the attention of state leaders.

“It’s absolutely insane what they’re proposing in Kansas City,” Missouri Lt. Governor Mike Kehoe said. “Basically becoming a sanctuary city if you will for illegal immigrants.”

“What we’re saying is if you have gone through that work, you have worked with homeland security and you are lawfully present here in the United States, then you know what, we want to welcome you and make sure there’s a way you can find work in our community,” Lucas said.

In the article, it states the city’s budget for 2024-2025 is setting aside $1 million for short term rehousing, health care and job training programs for refugees and migrants.

“If he has resources to train somebody, let’s train our own citizens who are paying those tax dollars,” Kehoe said.

Lucas said migrants, many of whom are asylum seekers from Latin America, will help with a labor shortage in construction and manufacturing, an issue he said both Kansas and Missouri are facing.

“I think Kansas City will be a leader in making sure we have that decompression, that housing, those services that are necessary to help people get populated here in our country,” Lucas said.

Jason Mendenhall with Heavy Construction Labors Local 663 said help is needed right now.

“We are just not getting the volume of people that we need,” he said.

Mendenhall said it’s the result of different infrastructure bills passed, ongoing construction projects to keep up with popular demand and the wave of older generations in the industry retiring.

“Right here in Missouri, we are looking at an unprecedented solid decade of work,” he said.

He said if you need work, there’s a job here for you.

“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 said. “If they want to do labors work, we want our card in their pocket.”

Here’s a link to fill out a referral application if you are looking for work .

As far as Lucas’ statement goes, in the article he also said that the city will likely know after Memorial Day how many people it could take in.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports.