LEXINGTON, Ky. — Federal court records have confirmed warnings from local activists that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were arresting immigrants during mandatory supervisory check-ins in Louisville, according to an investigation by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.

Last summer, activists with Louisville Showing Up For Racial Justice warned that ICE was detaining people at routine appointments, documenting their claims with photographs of handcuffed individuals placed in unmarked vehicles outside an Old Louisville office. At the time, the arrests could not be independently verified, but court filings now provide evidence that the detentions occurred.

KyCIR reviewed more than 60 habeas corpus petitions filed in federal court from January through February 2026, finding that about one in five involved immigrants arrested during required ICE check-ins in various cities, with at least three detainees from Louisville. All three faced arrest during May 2025 at appointments related to the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP, which allows immigrants to remain in their communities while their cases are pending.

The detained individuals included a pregnant woman and her husband who requested voluntary deportation to Mexico, and a Cuban man separated from his infant child and fiancée. Despite having no criminal records and complying with all ICE requirements—including regular check-ins—all three were held in the Oldham County Jail and subsequently deported.

"It's not an uncommon scenario," said Rania Attum, a local immigration attorney who represented two of the arrested individuals. She said her clients in Louisville and elsewhere followed all program requirements and maintained their locations with ICE, some for decades.

Federal judges nationwide, including in Kentucky, have ruled in multiple cases that ICE illegally detained immigrants and ordered their immediate release. The Trump administration generally does not contest arrest details in court filings but argues its agents acted appropriately and violated no due process rights.

BI, Inc., a subsidiary of the private prison company The GEO Group, operates the ISAP program nationally under contract with ICE. A company representative did not respond to a request for comment. ICE officials also declined to comment.

In response to the documented arrests, Louisville Showing Up For Racial Justice has begun volunteer patrols outside the South 3rd Street ISAP office on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Co-coordinator Carla Wallace said volunteers wear bright vests and hats identifying themselves as community defenders to monitor ICE activity.

"We want them to know we're watching," Wallace said. She noted that while volunteers observed ICE agents visiting the office once the previous week, no arrests were made during that visit.

Immigration attorney Attum said immigrants enrolled in ISAP are among "the easiest to catch" for deportation because they comply with supervision requirements. Under the Trump administration's escalating mass deportation campaign, ICE has been aggressively increasing arrests both at the border and in the interior, targeting immigrants of all backgrounds.