By Beth Musgrave, Lexington Herald-Leader

LEXINGTON, Ky. - An analysis by a Kentucky policy center shows the number of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in the commonwealth continues to grow as the number of local agencies helping ICE has exploded over the past year.

The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, using data from the Deportation Data Project, showed the number of ICE arrests in Kentucky is at close to 5,000 since President Donald Trump took office in 2025.

An increasing number of those ICE-related arrests are a result of the growing number of Kentucky law enforcement agencies with agreements with ICE to enforce immigration policy, the data showed.

In January 2025 the number of ICE arrests in Kentucky was 114. By July 2026, the number of monthly ICE arrests grew to 443. About 15.8% of those arrests were credited to local law enforcement agreements, the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy analysis showed. In November 2025, only one ICE arrest was credited to local law enforcement.

The Trump administration has pushed an aggressive agenda to deport people who have entered the country illegally.

As part of that crackdown, the administration has pushed local agencies to sign agreements with ICE to augment those enforcement efforts, commonly referred to as 287 (g) agreements.

Data from ICE show a five-fold increase in the number of Kentucky jails, police and county sheriffs who have signed those agreements from July 2025 to August 2026.

In July 2025, a Lexington Herald-Leader review of those agreements showed 11 agencies with formal agreements with ICE. In August 2026, that number had jumped to 55 agencies.

There are financial incentives for local law enforcement to participate. As part of a July 2025 federal budget and spending bill, local law enforcement can now receive up to $7,500 per ICE trained employee, $100,000 to buy vehicles and other equipment and money to cover some overtime and retirement benefits, according to ICE's website.

The above benefits are for police agencies that sign task force model agreements. The task force model allows officers train

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