ICE Detainer Policy Has Delivered Harm, Not Safety

Federal data show sharp increase in detainers, transfers into ICE custody one year after Louisville changed long-standing policy

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – One year after Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg changed city policy to allow the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections to honor 48-hour Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests, new analysis from the ACLU of Kentucky shows a dramatic increase in ICE detainer activity.

The analysis is based on federal immigration records obtained through public records requests and reviewed by ACLU Analytics.

There were 326 ICE detainer requests filed in Louisville in the 19 months before the policy change.

In the 7 months after, ICE filed 326 detainer holds in Louisville with at least 55 people subsequently booked into ICE detention.

In the six months following the change, ICE filed 344 detainer requests in Louisville, with at least 253 resulting in the detained person being booked into ICE detention.

Federal records show that in the months after Mayor Greenberg changed the policy, 157 people who received detainer holds in Louisville were later removed from the United States by ICE.

“Louisville residents were told this would be a limited policy affecting a relatively small number of people. The federal government’s own data show something very different,” said Amber Duke, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kentucky. “This policy has made Louisville’s jail a far more direct pathway into federal immigration detention and removal. That is especially troubling when we are talking about an already overcrowded jail where 23 people have died since May 2021.”

Mayor Greenberg announced the policy change last summer after the Trump administration threatened federal litigation and the loss of federal funding. At the time, Greenberg said the policy would affect fewer than 100 people held at LMDC each year and argued that greater cooperation at the jail could help protect Louisville from broader immigration enforcement actions.
The new data show that ICE activity involving Louisville facilities quickly surpassed the scale initially described.

The analysis also found that Louisville’s response to detainer requests changed significantly. Before August 2025, roughly one third of ICE detainer requests involving Louisville facilities were declined. After the policy change, only about 1% were declined.

More than 90% of new ICE detainer requests after the policy change were directed to Louisville Metro Department of Corrections, further concentrating federal immigration enforcement activity at the city jail.

The ACLU of Kentucky is calling on Mayor Greenberg to reverse the 48-hour ICE detainer policy and provide a complete public accounting of:

• The number of ICE detainers Louisville has received and honored.
• The number of people held beyond their scheduled release
• The number transferred into ICE custody
• The additional jail time created by the policy
• The financial cost of the policy to Louisville taxpayers.

“This was not simply an administrative change,” Duke said. “It changed Louisville’s relationship with federal immigration enforcement. The city went from exercising meaningful local discretion to becoming a dependable entry point into ICE custody. Every one of these numbers represents a person, a family, and a community living with the consequences.”
The full analysis, supporting data and additional information are available at: https://www.aclu-ky.org/stop-ice-detainers/
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Kentucky is freedom's watchdog, working daily in the courts, legislature and communities to defend individual rights and personal freedoms. For additional information, visit our website at: www.aclu-ky.org.