Kentucky agencies with agreements to help ICE have doubled in 6 months

LEXINGTON, Ky. — As the federal government ramps up efforts to detain and deport people in the U.S. illegally, the number of Kentucky law enforcement agencies and jails that have signed on to help those efforts has doubled in the first six months of 2025, federal data shows.

As of March 30, five Kentucky law enforcement groups had signed agreements with the Department of Homeland Security to help augment immigration enforcement. Homeland Security oversees U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

By the end of May, that number had jumped to 11, according to a database published on the ICE website.

Officials from agencies that are assisting ICE said in interviews with the Herald-Leader that their agreements would help apprehend people in the U.S. illegally.

Some said they don’t plan to use those ICE agreements to justify raids or sweeps.

“It’s just a tool in our toolbox,” said Marc Kaiser, chief of the Heritage Creek Police Department, a small police department in Jefferson County that’s assisting ICE. “We aren’t using this to go out and do sweeps. My question is: Why aren’t other police departments signing on?”

But groups that advocate on behalf of immigrants and refugees say the use of local police and jails can sometimes lead to people being unjustly detained.

“Our biggest concern is that the more local agencies sign up, the more we will start seeing immigration enforcement in different ways carried out through their different enforcement models,” said Mizari Suarez, executive director of the Neighbors Immigration Clinic, which provides legal services to immigrants. “As a state, we don’t have enough private attorneys and nonprofit immigration attorneys to answer the calls for individuals unjustly detained through these enforcement models through 287g.”

Different types of ICE agreements

There are three types of 287 (g) agreements agencies can sign with the Department of Homeland Security: warrant service, task force and jail enforcement.

The 287 (g) program is voluntary and grants law enforcement some immigration enforcement capabilities.

The jail enforcement model allows jail officials to identify possible undocumented immigrants in jail custody and place them into immigration proceedings.

A warrant service officer allows a jail official to serve civil warrants on behalf of ICE inside a jail facility, according to an ICE fact sheet.

Jurisdictions that have jail enforcement model agreements typically also have warrant service officer agreements.

A task force model agreement allows local law enforcement to “act as a force multiplier for state and local law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties,” according to an ICE description.

The Kentucky law enforcement groups that had existing 287 agreements before April were:

—Daviess County Sheriff’s Department: Warrant service officer, task force model

—Grayson County Detention Center: Warrant service officer, jail enforcement model

—Grayson County Sheriff’s office: Task force model

—Bullitt County Detention Center: Jail enforcement model

—Oldham County Detention Center: Jail enforcement model, warrant service officer

Since then, six more law enforcement agencies have joined the program. Five of those are the task force model, giving local law enforcement the greatest latitude to enforce immigration laws. Immigration is a civil procedure. Law enforcement typically oversees criminal procedures.

Those agencies that have signed 287 agreements since March 30 include:

—Bracken County Sheriff’s Office: Task force model

—Heritage Creek Police Department: Task force model

—Kenton County Sheriff’s Office: Warrant service model, jail enforcement model

—Lyon County Sheriff’s Office: Task force model

—Marshall County Sheriff’s Office: Task force model

—Union County Sheriff’s Office: Task force model

Kentucky jails can also house ICE detainees. As of May 30, the following jails have contracts with the federal government to house ICE inmates, according to ICE detention statistics published on its website.

—Boone County

—Campbell County

—Oldham County

—Kenton County

—Laurel County

—Grayson County

—Hopkins County

Oldham County residents question county’s ICE agreements

Most ICE agreements are signed by the county or city’s elected jailer or the sheriff without public knowledge.

In Oldham County, when Louisville media outlets revealed the county was housing ICE detainees and participating in the jail enforcement and warrant services models, some residents and advocates criticized the county.

Michael Slider, executive director of Kentuckians for Democracy, a group formed this year that says it fights President Donald Trump’s “assault” on the U.S. Constitution, has spoken several times against the agreements at various public meetings since April.

The group has also started a petition at Change.org asking Oldham County to drop its participation in the program.

Oldham County Jailer Jeff Tindall, who signed the ICE agreements, did not return multiple requests for comment.

Slider said ICE’s tactics and sweeps have raised not only eyebrows but have resulted in multiple legal challenges, particularly when ICE has deported people who are in the country legally.

A Bowling Green teenager was detained by ICE in early June despite having two different documents saying he was in the country legally. Ernesto Manuel-Andres, 18, was released on bond June 24 after spending more than 20 days in ICE custody. His case is still pending.

“We are setting ourselves up for liability and lawsuits,” Slider said during a recent Oldham County Fiscal Court meeting.

Slider said his group is also concerned Oldham County has largely entered into these agreements to help pay for the $23 million Oldham County Detention Center, which opened in 2018.

The federal government can pay as much as $73 a day per inmate, nearly twice what the Kentucky Department of Corrections pays county jails to house state inmates, which is roughly $35 a day, according to federal and state data.

According to a Kentucky Department of Corrections June 20 jail intake report, Oldham County had 268 inmates that week. Of those inmates, 188, or roughly 70% in the jail, were federal inmates.

Not all were ICE detainees, though. Oldham County can house other federal inmates, too.

Grayson County Detention Center, which also has multiple ICE agreements, is filled mostly with federal inmates. As of June 20, data show the facility had 736 inmates, 634 of whom were federal inmates.

The Grayson County Detention Center is over capacity by 200 beds, state data shows.

Grayson County Jailer Jason Woosley did not return a phone call asking for comment.

No sweeps or raids, police say

Multiple law enforcement agencies contacted by the Lexington Herald-Leader did not return calls asking about the 287 (g) agreements.

The officials who spoke to the Herald-Leader said they entered the agreements because they wanted to ensure their officers were trained correctly on how to interact with people who may not be in the country legally.

“I was very impressed with the training,” said Kaiser of the Heritage Creek Police Department.

The 17-member Heritage police department recently completed the online training, which spent a lot of time on the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from unreasonable search and seizure, Kaiser said.

If local police pull someone over for speeding and no one in the vehicle speaks English, and no one has a valid driver’s license, the department can contact ICE and ask if any of the people in the vehicle have an ICE hold, which means they may be wanted by ICE.

“If someone gives us a valid driver’s license, we can go no further,” Kaiser said.

The department can’t detain someone on suspicion of an immigration-related crime without ICE giving them the OK, he said.

Kaiser noted, too, that law enforcement from different jurisdictions frequently work together to detain criminals.

For example, a police officer in Jefferson County who stopped someone for speeding can check on their computers if that person has an outstanding warrant from another county. If they do, then that officer can arrest them on that outstanding warrant and then transport them to that county, he said.

That’s what police departments are doing when they sign agreements with ICE, he said.

“We aren’t going to be some sort of Gestapo police. We aren’t going to do raids or sweeps,” Kaiser said.

A traffic stop is a safer way to take someone into custody. Large sweeps can be volatile and dangerous, he said.

Marshall County Sheriff Matt Hilbrecht said Marshall County has signed an agreement with ICE — for the task force model — but has not yet received training.

“We signed it, but we have not heard anything back,” Hilbrecht said.

Hilbrecht said the department decided to sign the ICE agreement because it has encountered people who are not here in the country legally during traffic stops and other arrests.

“We would report it to ICE, and nothing would happen,” Hilbrecht said.

Hilbrecht said Marshall County, in Western Kentucky, does not have a large immigrant population. U.S. Census data shows the foreign-born population is less than 1% in the county of about 31,000 residents.

The department wanted training to know what to do if and when sheriff’s deputies come across people who are not in the country legally, the sheriff said.

“We have no intention of doing any kind of roundups,” Hilbrecht said.

Kaiser said some police departments may not be willing to work with ICE because of politics.

“Maybe some of them have Democratic mayors,” Kaiser said. “It shouldn’t be a political issue.”

Still, every elected sheriff and jailer in Kentucky who has signed ICE agreements is Republican, a review of those elected officials’ political affiliations shows.

Other agencies have resisted formal agreements with ICE because they are concerned immigrants will not report crimes or come forward as witnesses if they are not in the country legally.

A 2018 report by the American Civil Liberties Union showed a decrease in immigrant-reported crimes during the first Trump administration. The report surveyed law enforcement, prosecutors and judges and survivor advocates.

Lexington Police Department and the Fayette County Detention Center have no formal agreements with ICE.

“Our police and corrections assist all federal agencies when our community’s safety dictates the need. These are ongoing long-term relationships that have benefited all our residents,” said Susan Straub, a spokeswoman for the city.

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