Reports say ICE detention is growing in KY but records, details remain unclear, advocates say

The number of federal immigration detainees in Kentucky jails is growing dramatically, but the public knows less and less about them, including whether or not they have criminal records, according to new reports on federal efforts to deport more people. 

Some information on U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees in Kentucky jails is hard to find, a new report from the League of Women Voters of Kentucky says. 

The League’s analysis found a few online rosters at Kentucky jails that house federal immigration detainees are unclear on the local crimes charged or status of the detainee. Three do not list people who are in ICE custody. 

“Kentucky jails belong to us, the people of Kentucky, so we should know how immigrants are being treated,” wrote League President Jennifer Jackson in a letter about the report. “The people held there are human beings, so Kentuckians should insist on their human rights.”

The League, a group that has been tracking ICE data statewide for a few months, also said in the latest analysis a dozen jails across Kentucky are being paid to house ICE detainees and most do not have a criminal conviction; more than 60 jails in the state have voluntarily placed ICE holds on people arrested locally; most jails that provide ICE custody are overcrowded because of federal roles; and two jails and more than 50 law enforcement agencies have partnerships with ICE. 

In November, about 12 local police agencies and three jails in Kentucky had partnerships with ICE under 287(g) agreements. Two bills were filed in the 2026 legislative session to direct Kentucky State Police or local law enforcement agencies to enter such ICE agreements, but they did not get floor votes. 

According to data from Relevant Research, Kentucky jails are housing about 1,200 people for ICE as of July. 

Last week, progressive think tank Kentucky Center for Economic Policy said in an analysis that arrests through the 287(g) agreements have grown in recent months. In November 2025, there was one arrest in Kentucky through the agreement program. In July 2026, there were 70. 

After its report, the League of Women Voters sent letters to leaders in counties with the greatest participation in ICE detention: Boone, Bourbon, Campbell, Christian, Daviess, Fayette, Grayson, Hopkins, Jefferson, Kenton, Laurel, Oldham and Woodford. Among the group’s requests were providing more fully transparent inmate lists and evidence about the treatment of detainees. 

The full analysis said jails in Bourbon, Boone, Grayson, Hopkins, Laurel and Oldham counties include ICE detainees in their roster listings. Those people can be identified by an immigration charge listed or that the arresting officer or agency is listed as ICE, Immigration or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

The League said Campbell, Christian and Kenton counties do not list people there in ICE custody. Daviess County “appears to include people in ICE custody in its public roster, but not in a way that makes that status clear, as it may include people arrested by other federal agents, like U.S. Marshals. Fayette and Woodford counties’ “approaches are unclear to the League.”

Matt Mudd, a spokesperson for Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, said Louisville Metro Department of Corrections “does not house individuals who are in ICE custody,” but it does honor detainer requests from ICE to hold people 48 hours beyond their scheduled release for local offenses. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky criticized the practice in August, saying it reviewed data that showed a nearly 300% increase in the average number of monthly detainer requests since the city’s policy change last year. Mudd said the cost for the holds “is negligible, and LMDC has not increased its budget to accommodate these holds.”

“To protect individual information, names of those subject to an ICE detainer are not released. Furthermore, information related to immigration detainers is subject to confidentiality requirements of federal law. The individual’s attorney may request additional information in person with proper identification while in person at LMDC,” Mudd added. “However, all local charges for individuals in custody at LMDC are available on a searchable public website that shows all allowable information.”

Mudd also referred to the state law governing conditions for jails, such as the requirement to provide inmates three nutritious meals a day to inmates and health and mental health evaluations and treatment.

ICE detention in Kentucky has made headlines in recent months. U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat who represents Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District, joined two of his House colleagues to visit the Campbell County jail in July to review conditions for ICE detainees there. 

“Trump and Republicans in Congress gave ICE billions in taxpayer money to target and terrorize immigrants in our communities,” McGarvey said in a Wednesday statement to the Kentucky Lantern. “At a bare minimum, we as taxpayers deserve transparency about where our neighbors are being taken and how they’re being treated.”

McGarvey joined family members of a Louisville woman, Sarafinah Bukirwa, who was detained by ICE in calling for better medical care for her while she was in the Grayson County Detention Center in July. Bukirwa, who has sickle cell anemia, was not getting all of her medications, her brother said, but the jailer denied the claim. Bukirwa was later released in August by a federal judge and after her family paid her bond. 

Nationwide, more than 30 people have died in ICE custody since October and the fatality rate for ICE custody has reached a 22-year high in the opening months of the fiscal year.