Lawmaker asks SBA to relocate offices from KC to Columbia, citing sanctuary-like policies for immigrants

A Kansas City-area congressman wants the U.S. Small Business Administration to move its offices from downtown Kansas City to central Missouri, amid President Trump’s nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants and a broad restructuring of how the federal government works.

U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, R-Missouri

U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, R-Missouri, on Tuesday sent a letter to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler, asking her to relocate the agency’s offices currently at 1000 Walnut St., Kansas City. He also introduced a DOGE-adjacent bill Tuesday — the “Returning SBA to Main Street Act” — to “get SBA workers out of the swamp and into rural communities.”

“The goal is simple,” Alford said in a social media post that shared a screenshot of his letter to Loeffler. “No regional offices in cities that welcome illegal immigration; Bring Main Street closer to rural America.”

Loeffler announced on March 7 that the SBA would move its regional offices from so-called “sanctuary cities” Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York City and Seattle to “less costly, more accessible locations that better serve the small business community and comply with federal immigration law.”

Kansas City is not technically classified as a sanctuary city — a term loosely referring to communities where local officials limit cooperation with federal authorities on immigration enforcement — but Mayor Quinton Lucas has in the past bucked regional and federal trends on immigration.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas speaks during the 2024 State of the City address; photo by Taylor Wilmore, Startland News

In 2023, Lucas established the Mayor’s Commission for New Americans to advise KCMO on “how to better support the growing community of immigrants and refugees living in Kansas City”; later drawing Republicans’ ire by saying he’d welcome migrants who could fill jobs locally.

“We need a lot more employees,” Lucas told Bloomberg News in April 2024. “If there are people who are willing and able to work, then I believe that there could be a place for them.”

ICYMI: Missouri won’t let Kansas City become a sanctuary city, but the mayor wants more immigrant workers

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey quickly rebuked Lucas, putting the mayor on notice about the illegality of such moves.

“While Kansas City is not officially a sanctuary city, its leadership has embraced policies that align with sanctuary city values, including offering to house migrants from cities overwhelmed by illegal immigration,” Alford said in Tuesday’s letter to Loeffler. “In response, Missouri lawmakers have taken action to ensure the state’s policies prioritize the interests of its citizens. As the SBA undergoes this critical relocation effort, it may be time for the administration to reinforce these priorities by placing its regional office in Columbia rather than a city that leans toward leftist policies.”

Startland News reached out to Mayor Lucas’ office for comment.

Click here to read the full text of Alford’s to the SBA leader.

The SBA provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise to small businesses and is the only cabinet-level, federal agency tasked with advocating for entrepreneurs.

Alford lobbied for a move to Columbia, citing its proximity to the University of Missouri, Stephens College, and Columbia College; as well as the potential for new efficiencies in tandem with the existing Missouri Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Columbia.

“Beyond its metropolitan area of over 200,000 residents, Columbia is surrounded by rural communities where small businesses are the backbone of the local economy,” Alford told Loeffler in his letter. “Placing the SBA in the heart of Missouri would ensure it remains committed to Main Street businesses and rural entrepreneurs who need its support the most.”

Columbia is in Alford’s 4th Congressional District, which also includes Cass County and portions of eastern Jackson County; Kansas City, Missouri, itself falls within U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s 5th District.

“Having overseen a record-breaking 16 million new business applications during his term, President Biden and his administration understood that the best way to support entrepreneurship in America was to ensure all Americans, no matter their race, religion, or politics, have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams,” Cleaver told Startland News.

“As Kansas City continues to grow rapidly in population and employment, the local SBA Office and the employees who serve within have proven their value to the entire region, supporting small business creation in my congressional district and far beyond,” he continued. “Relocating the office to a less-populated and less-accessible area of the state would not only undermine the offices’ capability to maximize economic development throughout the region, but it would also drain federal resources that would be better spent supporting small businesses that are the backbone of our communities.”

U.S. Rep. Mark Alford, R-Missouri; photo courtesy of Mark Alford’s Office

The push to relocate the SBA offices from Kansas City comes as Alford — previously a TV news anchor in Kansas City and himself a former small business owner who worked as a Realtor and clothier before joining Congress in 2023 — seeks broader change within the agency and others.

Overall, Alford — alongside such allies as U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa — wants more federal resources redirected from major cities to smaller communities, he said.

Their efforts on The Returning SBA to Main Street Act also complement the work of the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Alford said in a press release, by saving taxpayer money on unused office space, making SBA interactions with small businesses more efficient, and improving SBA’s customer service.

The measure introduced this week specifically targets “telework” or hybrid/virtual policies that became practical during the COVID-19 pandemic, but led to widespread vacancies within physical government offices — a point repeatedly lampooned in the Trump administration’s first weeks and during the president’s re-election campaign.

“The days of the federal government leaving rural small businesses on the sidelines are over,” Alford said in a press release about the legislation. “Under the Biden Administration, SBA headquarters were often empty, preventing small businesses from getting the counseling they need. By relocating these workers into the communities they serve, we can provide our nation’s small businesses with the support they deserve and reduce wasteful spending on unused office space.”

In mid-February, a town hall meeting hosted by Alford in Belton, Missouri, went viral after the gathering erupted over constituents’ frustrations with federal layoffs and other cuts tied to President Trump’s early executive orders and eliminations made by DOGE. The congressman later told CNN that “outside agitators” were to blame for the disrupted event, although he appeared to acknowledge in the interview that he was referring to Democratic voters from within his district who already were predisposed against Trump’s policies — not Republican base voters who had flipped in their support.