Kentucky’s largest city is changing a detention policy for immigrants following pressure from the Trump administration.
During a Tuesday press conference, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said the city will reinstate a 48-hour hold for “inmates who are arrested for crimes, are booked in our jail and are subject to deportation notices” to allow federal officers time to take custody of those inmates.
Without doing so, the city could lose federal financial support and put the immigrant community and other vulnerable populations at risk, Greenberg said.
“Louisville stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants if we remain classified as a sanctuary city,” he said. “Many of those funds are used to provide food, rental assistance, and medical care to our most vulnerable residents. I will not risk hurting them either.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an X post Tuesday morning that Louisville was “dropping its sanctuary city policies as a result of a strong written warning from my office” and called it “a major victory for the Department of Justice.”
“This should set an example to other cities,” she said. “Instead of forcing us to sue you — which we will, without hesitation — follow the law, get rid of sanctuary policies, and work with us to fix the illegal immigration crisis.”
Louisville was the only Kentucky city on a list of 500 “sanctuary jurisdictions” published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security earlier this year, along with four Kentucky counties. The list disappeared from the department’s website in a matter of days following complaints from the National Sheriffs’ Association that many counties were erroneously included.
“I have been assured by the U.S. Department of Justice that, if we reinstate the 48-hour detainers for inmates who’ve been arrested for crimes, Louisville will be taken off the federal sanctuary city list. Accordingly, Metro Corrections will begin honoring 48-hour federal detainers as soon as practical because the stakes are too high,” Greenberg said. “In turn, Louisville will no longer be considered a ‘sanctuary city’ by the federal government. This change in designation is critical. Cities on the sanctuary city list right now are experiencing a terrifying increase in raids by ICE, including mass raids. Just look at what’s gone on in LA and other cities across the country.”
Greenberg said he spoke with leaders in the immigrant community before making the decision who expressed “fear” over “current federal policies and current ICE actions.” He doesn’t want the National Guard “occupying the streets of Louisville,” he said, which could “risk the safety of our broader immigrant community.”
In a June 25 letter, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said the city’s sanctuary policies were interfering with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
“By refusing to honor civil detainers expressly authorized by Congress and creating a de facto requirement that federal immigration authorities obtain a criminal warrant to arrest or take custody of a detained alien, Louisville has unlawfully created ‘an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives’ of the federal immigration laws,” that letter stated.
Greenberg replied to Shumate on July 21, saying that “your letter has made clear that the consequences of being a sanctuary jurisdiction are significant and will have major impacts on our city going forward.”
Some in Kentucky’s Republican-controlled state legislature have sought to ban local governments from enacting sanctuary policies. Rep. T.J. Roberts, a freshman Republican from Burlington, filed a bill to do so in the legislative session earlier this year, but the legislation did not get a committee hearing.
“I am the grandson of two young Germans who fled Nazi Germany to escape Hitler’s wrath. I am proud to be the grandson of immigrants and I am proud to live in a city that warmly welcomes refugees and other immigrants,” Greenberg said Tuesday. “As your mayor, I am committed to supporting our immigrant community. They are an integral part of Louisville’s amazing fabric, enriching our city with diverse cultures, traditions, and perspectives. They are our neighbors, classmates of our children, entrepreneurs, work colleagues and our friends.”
ACLU condemns decision
The Kentucky chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has asked that Louisville leadership reconsider the policy decision.
Amber Duke, the executive director of ACLU-KY, said in a statement that the move “undermines the trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement” and will worsen overcrowding and understaffing issues at the jail.
“By choosing to comply in the face of the Trump Administration’s threats, Louisville has aligned itself with policies that have led to increased fear, mass deportations and instability in cities across the country,” Duke said. “Today’s decision will no doubt bolster the Trump Administration’s political attacks on Democratically led municipalities and will not prevent further federal interference into local matters.”
LSURJ issues statement
Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice (LSURJ) is deeply disturbed that Mayor Craig Greenberg has given in to the terror and attacks perpetrated by ICE on families in Louisville by submitting to the DOJ demand to reinstate 48 Hour ICE holds.
“Targeting immigrant and refugee communities is about the strategic politics of fear and blame and tears families apart and diminishes the humanity of all people who tolerate these attacks.” said Noelle Tennis Gulden, an LSURJ leader. “It is incredibly sad that our mayor is conceding. We know from witnessing authoritarian regimes through history that compliance saves no one in the end.”
“The DOJ put us on the ‘Sanctuary City’ list as a threat and the Mayor capitulated immediately,” said Anice Chenault of the Louisville SURJ Coordinating Team. “Attorney General Pam Bondi is now holding up Louisville as an example to serve as a warning to other cities. This is outrageous.”
“Our immigrant and refugee communities are part of all of us,” said LSURJ Community Defense Network member Dan Despain. “When people are part of us, we have to stand with them in times of challenge like this. I am so disappointed that our mayor is not doing so.”
LSURJ has more than 200 people trained in community defense, including Know Your Rights, de escalation, documentation and response to ICE raids and other attacks on marginalized people.
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Written by Sarah Ladd and McKenna Horsley. Cross-posted from the Kentucky Lantern. Statement by LSURG received via press release.
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