GOP lawmakers have filed at least five bills aimed at tearing down sanctuary policies, requiring cooperation with and participation in federal immigration enforcement.
The legislation comes amid protests across the country over the Trump administration's immigration enforcement tactics following the death of 37-year-old Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis, who was shot and killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer last week.
At least four bills seek to encourage or require law enforcement agencies in Kentucky to assist ICE in their efforts to carry out mass deportations across the country. A fifth bill would make it a crime to seek out or do work while undocumented.
Louisville has already capitulated to some Trump administration demands after learning the U.S. Department of Justice intended to sue and cut off funding. In July 2025, Mayor Craig Greenberg said the city would return to an earlier policy of holding people in jail for an extra 48 hours if the federal government asks for an immigration hold.
As of a DOJ release last year, no Kentucky city or county is listed as a “sanctuary jurisdiction.” But that hasn’t stopped state Republican lawmakers from targeting specific policies they have determined to be “sanctuary policies.”
Enforcing immigration law is the federal government’s responsibility, but several GOP legislators want to require Kentucky law enforcement to get involved too, through the 287(g) program that lets ICE delegate certain authority to officers at the state and local levels. Twenty-two county or municipal law enforcement agencies in Kentucky already have such agreements, according to ICE data.
It’s not clear which, if any, of the filed bills will find purchase in the Republican-controlled General Assembly. GOP House Speaker David Osborne told reporters Wednesday that the caucus has discussed various measures and acknowledged that the focus on immigration is a reflection of national issues.
“There hasn't been anything that our caucus has kind of grabbed hold of as an issue that they want to unify behind,” Osborne said. “But we continue to have those conversations as things get filed.”
Read the rest at Louisville Public Media.
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