ICE Deportations in Kentucky Nearly Double Under Trump, Data Shows

Federal immigration enforcement in Kentucky has intensified dramatically since Trump's second inauguration, with deportation rates jumping from 42% to 78% of arrests. New data reveals ICE is increasingly targeting people with no criminal history, arresting mothers at school drop-offs and workers at their jobs as the administration races to "hit numbers."

The Numbers Tell the Story

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested roughly 3,500 people through ICE offices in Louisville and Bowling Green between Trump's January 2025 inauguration and March 2026, according to federal data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting.

That's nearly as many arrests as occurred during the final 27 months of the Biden administration combined.

But the real shift isn't just in arrest volume. It's in what happens after the arrest.

Under Biden, 42% of Kentucky-based ICE arrests resulted in deportation. Under Trump, that figure has skyrocketed to 78%.

Who's Being Targeted

The data reveals a troubling pattern: ICE is casting a wider net.

During Biden's final two years, 38% of Kentucky-based arrests involved people with no criminal history who faced only civil immigration violations. Under Trump, that percentage dropped to 8%, but the overall surge in arrests means hundreds of people with clean records are still being swept up.

More than half of Trump-era arrests involved people convicted of at least one crime, though the data doesn't specify what crimes. Another third involved people with pending charges.

At least three-quarters of arrests under Trump were "custodial" transfers from jails or prisons where people were already incarcerated. But 22% were street arrests, happening in communities, at workplaces, at required immigration check-ins.

Louisville immigration attorney Duffy Trager says he's heard from clients arrested when they showed up for mandatory appointments as part of their immigration cases. Others were mothers with no criminal history raising children in the U.S.

"I'm sensing that they're kind of doing what they can to hit numbers and that's what it's about," Trager told KyCIR.

The Reality on the Ground

Sylvia Quaye, another Louisville immigration attorney, describes a landscape transformed by aggressive enforcement.

She's seen ICE arrest people as they drop kids at school. She's seen agents show up at workplaces.

"It's gone from bad to worse," Quaye said. "It's gone from the frying pan to the fire."

The federal data shows more than 250 arrests per month tied to Kentucky ICE offices for most of Trump's current term. Under Biden, only three months in his final two years exceeded 200 arrests.

ICE units based outside Kentucky, in cities like Chicago, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis, have also made arrests in the commonwealth, adding another 25 arrests under Trump.

ICE Disputes Its Own Data

In a remarkable twist, ICE officials claim the data their own agency provided to the Deportation Data Project is inaccurate.

"The Deportation Data Project relies on information releases that have not been reviewed, audited or given context," an unnamed ICE spokesperson said via email. "DHS nor ICE have verified the accuracy, methodology or the analysis of the project and its results. The bottom line is that the Deportation Data Project is not accurate."

The agency offered no specifics about what might be inaccurate or misleading about the numbers it released.

Media outlets and advocacy groups nationwide use this same ICE-provided data to track immigration enforcement impacts in their communities.

The Broader Context

Research consistently shows immigrants commit crimes at lower rates than U.S.-born citizens. National government records reported by news outlets show thousands of people detained by ICE under Trump either have no criminal record or were convicted of nonviolent offenses.

Kentucky hasn't seen the mass raids that have made headlines in other states. But the data makes clear Trump's stated goal of deporting millions is having a measurable local impact.

Quaye says the aggressive policies force impossible choices on her clients facing immigration court. They can fight deportation, which is expensive and unpredictable, or they can accept removal and lose everything they've built in the U.S.

For Trager, the shift in enforcement philosophy is unmistakable.

"The federal immigration enforcement landscape is dramatically different than in years past," he said.

The data suggests he's right. And for thousands of Kentucky families, that difference is measured in separations, deportations, and the constant fear of what comes next.