A sign on a road off of US Highway 75 welcomes motorists to the Prairie Band Potawatomi reservation, outside Mayetta, Kansas, on 11 December 2025. ohn Hanna/APA sign on a road off of US Highway 75 welcomes motorists to the Prairie Band Potawatomi reservation, outside Mayetta, Kansas, on 11 December 2025. ohn Hanna/APKansas Native American tribe in turmoil over deal to design ICE facilitiesPrairie Band Potawatomi Nation signed deal in October, but president says tribe is now trying to exit contractA Native American tribe in Kansas is facing criticism from other tribal groups after its economic development subsidiary secured a $29.9m federal contract from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to design potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. The development entity of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation signed the contract to design the detention facilities in October, leading to criticism that the tribal group, which was uprooted from the Great Lakes region to reservation lands north of Topeka, Kansas, in the 1830s, was itself benefiting from forced removals under the Trump administration. In a video statement released on Friday, tribal chair Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick confirmed that KPB Services – a subsidiary of Prairie Band LLC, the nation’s economic arm – had signed the contract and apologized for the “concern, frustration and confusion” it had caused.
