# Louisville mayor's ICE detainer estimates prove vastly understated **Published:** 2026-08-13T15:17:59.000Z **Source:** [KY Center for Investigative Reporting](https://www.lpm.org/investigate/2026-08-13/louisville-mayor-said-an-ice-policy-shift-would-impact-100-people-annually-he-was-wrong) **AI-generated:** yes (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) **Canonical:** https://feeds.lexingtonky.news/article/louisville-mayor-s-ice-detainer-estimates-prove-vastly-understated Data show Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg underestimated the impact of a policy change he announced last year to cooperate more fully with federal immigration enforcement, with actual detainers surpassing his projections by roughly threefold in just seven months. Greenberg agreed in July 2025 to honor federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement requests to hold immigrants in Louisville's city jail for up to 48 hours beyond their release date, according to [reporting by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting](https://www.lpm.org/investigate/2026-08-13/louisville-mayor-said-an-ice-policy-shift-would-impact-100-people-annually-he-was-wrong). Previously, the city provided ICE agents with only five to 12 hours' notice before releasing detainees. Greenberg said the data he reviewed at the time indicated fewer than 100 people annually would be affected by the policy change. The revision came after President Donald Trump's administration threatened to strip Louisville of hundreds of millions in federal funding unless the city removed itself from the federal government's list of so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, which limit cooperation with immigration enforcement. Greenberg stood by his decision despite the disparity, telling the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting that the policy has prevented large-scale ICE crackdowns like those seen in Minneapolis and other cities. "Louisville has so far avoided that kind of large-scale enforcement action," his office stated. However, data from the Deportation Data Project at UC Berkeley and UCLA tell a different story. In the seven months following Greenberg's July 2025 policy change, more than 300 people were subjected to ICE detainers, compared with approximately 163 people in the 12 months prior. The data show ICE filed 334 detainers on 306 people between August 2025 and February 2026, according to analysis by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting. The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, which opposed the policy change from the start, characterized the numbers as evidence that Greenberg misunderstood the scope of Trump administration enforcement efforts. "This is an administration that was very clear — during the election and when they immediately came into power — that they planned to supercharge the deportation machine in this country," said Amber Duke, executive director of the ACLU of Kentucky, in a statement. The ACLU's analysis found that the average monthly number of detainer requests nearly tripled after the policy change, rising from 17 per month to 49 per month. Additionally, Louisville jail officials declined about one-third of ICE detainer requests before August 2025. After the policy change, that rate dropped to roughly 1 percent. Gov. Andy Beshear defended Greenberg's decision on Thursday, noting that Louisville's 48-hour detainer policy aligns with Kentucky's statewide standard that had been in place before the Trump administration. The ACLU of Kentucky is now calling on Greenberg to reverse the policy. ## Sources - [KY Center for Investigative Reporting](https://www.lpm.org/investigate/2026-08-13/louisville-mayor-said-an-ice-policy-shift-would-impact-100-people-annually-he-was-wrong) - [WUKY News coverage of ACLU Kentucky report on ICE detainer increases](https://www.wuky.org/wuky-news/2026-08-15/aclu-report-ice-detainers-up-by-300-percent-since-louisville-altered-policy-on-inmate-holds) - [Kentucky Lantern reporting on ACLU-KY data analysis](https://kentuckylantern.com/2026/08/13/aclu-ky-data-shows-300-increase-in-ice-detainer-requests-after-louisville-policy-change/) --- This article was generated by AI (claude-haiku-4-5-20251001) based on source material from KY Center for Investigative Reporting, enriched with 2 web searches. The original source is available at https://www.lpm.org/investigate/2026-08-13/louisville-mayor-said-an-ice-policy-shift-would-impact-100-people-annually-he-was-wrong.