The League of Women Voters of Kentucky has released ICE Detention in Kentucky: An Initial Report. The report is the first in a series of reports the League hopes to issue over the next several months to bring more transparency to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detentions in Kentucky county jails in Boone, Campbell, Christian, Daviess, Grayson, Hopkins, Kenton, Laurel, and Oldham counties.
“Kentuckians have a right to know what is happening in publicly-funded jails that are operated by local elected officials,” said Jennifer A. Jackson, M.D., president of the LWVKY. “The League of Women Voters supports immigration enforcement policies that ensure fair treatment and due process for all persons, including the right to a fair hearing, right to counsel, right of appeal, and right to humane treatment.”
Major Findings: Based on “the most current data available for Kentucky, the League found that:
• Over 1,000 people are now held for ICE in county facilities.
• Kentucky’s ICE detainee count more than doubled from September 2025 to February 2026, from 434 to 1,041.
• The percentage of detainees identified as non-criminal has also increased notably during that period, from 47% to 72%.
• ICE detainees are not included in some jails’ public lists of inmates, which could make it difficult for families and attorneys to locate those being held, and also prevents the public from seeing who is being held by their government.
• Some of the jails in which ICE detainees are being held are severely overcrowded, which can create challenges to ensuring human dignity.
These findings are based on data taken from websites of the county jails, the Kentucky Department of Corrections, and ICE for the period of September 2026 (when several county jails entered into agreements with ICE) to February 2026 (when the most recent ICE data were available).
Key questions about conditions about ICE detainees: The League is talking with jailers to learn more about the conditions for detained immigrants. We will provide updates later this year on what we have learned. In the meantime, we urge Kentuckians to reach out to local elected officials (jailers, judge executives, magistrates, etc.) and ask them about the following issues:
Numbers and Movement
• How many people are you holding for ICE? Are they all listed on your website?
• Do you accept additional federal detainees when your jail is already overcrowded? If so, why?
• When an ICE detainee is released from your jail, who is responsible for that person’s transportation back to his or her home?
Dignity and Basic Rights:
• How are detained immigrants able to contact attorneys and their families? Participate in their preferred religious services? Get health care and their medical prescriptions?
• How many of the detained immigrants need translation services, and how are you able to provide those services?
Financial Impact:
• What are the financial implications of accepting ICE detainees? How do the federal payments compare to state payments and to your annual budget to hold county inmates?
Transparency and Government Accountability:
• How can we learn more about who is being held here, about the conditions here, and about the challenges both for jail staff and those being held?
The full report, ICE Detention in Kentucky: An Initial Report, is available at lwvky.org.
League of Women Voters of Kentucky