A Republican state representative plans to file legislation that would require all Kentucky police agencies to partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a program that gives local officers some power to enforce federal immigration law.
Rep. TJ Roberts of Burlington filed a bill request ahead of the 2026 legislative session — signaling his intention to file the measure when the General Assembly convenes in January. Under his proposed legislation, local law enforcement departments and the Kentucky State Police would have to participate in ICE's 287(g) task force model program.
Departments that sign onto the task force agreement are then able to enforce "limited immigration authority with ICE oversight" during police officers' routine duties. For example, officers can process people who have already been arrested on state or federal criminal charges with additional immigration violations. Police working under ICE's task force model program have also charged people with federal immigration charges after conducting traffic stops.
Speaking to lawmakers Thursday at a Committee on Local Government meeting, Roberts said ICE's 287(g) program does not legally authorize local or state police to seek out undocumented immigrants to arrest.
"This is not [supporting] independent raids. This is if they pull someone over for a DUI – [or if] they are called for any other type of case – that they are then able, upon reasonable suspicion, to investigate whether or not the individuals involved are here legally," Roberts said.
However, ICE's task force model program for local police departments was previously shut down in 2012 following reports that some agencies racially profiled Latino drivers and violated their civil rights.
President Donald Trump resurrected the task force program earlier this year through an executive order issued on the first day of his second term.
According to ICE's website, a dozen local agencies in the Bluegrass State – most of them in rural parts of the Commonwealth – already have task force agreements in place with the federal agency. But Roberts said those partnerships are not "in the areas that we need it at currently."
He argued the state should require agencies to partner with ICE through its task force program to increase the ability to enforce immigration law along major interstates and other areas that he said are known hotspots for human trafficking or drug smuggling. The conservative lawmaker said he worked with legislative liaisons from the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to craft the bill and further what he called one of their "top priorities."
"This is one of those matters to ensure that we are being a good partner with the federal authorities, to ensure that we are enforcing federal law, that we are making sure that our streets are safer," Roberts said.
But some lawmakers at Thursday's meeting pushed back against the proposal, expressing concerns over whether requiring local police agencies to enforce federal immigration law would damage community trust.
Democratic Rep. George Brown Jr. of Lexington said he opposed the measure.
"[Folks] are concerned about ICE and ICE's relationship to our law enforcement and to our citizens, and it is real important that we do not go into, in my opinion, something that removes due process," Brown said.
Rep. Rachel Roarx, a Democrat from Louisville, said she had concerns about potentially taking away a local department's choice to join the ICE program.
"I think when we talk about law enforcement, we have so much understaffing already. We're pulling people away from investigating our violent crime, and I think this is an issue that we're really expending a lot more resources than what the actual problem is," Roarx said.
Roberts said the federal government would compensate local departments for participating in the ICE task force program. ICE implemented new incentives for participating agencies in October – including the full reimbursement of local departments for the annual salary, benefits and some overtime coverage for each eligible officer that is trained under the 287(g) task force program. Those incentives also include performance bonuses for departments based on the "successful location of illegal aliens provided by ICE," and overall assistance to ICE's mission.
Republican Rep. Patrick Flannery of Olive Hill, who co-chairs the joint local government committee, said these benefits could give financial boosts to Kentucky police agencies.
"This is not an unfunded mandate. This is an opportunity to potentially utilize resources from the federal government to implement those into our local communities that we serve. [For] city police departments, sheriffs' departments that can definitely use these resources," Flannery said.
In a statement, ACLU of Kentucky Executive Director Amber Duke said her organization "strongly opposes" Roberts' proposal.
"This is another bad attempt to copy and paste a failed idea used in other states into Kentucky law. This attack on local control will undermine public safety, erode constitutional rights, strain law enforcement resources, and damage community trust across Kentucky," Duke said.
Full discussion of the proposed bill can be streamed on YouTube. The 2026 Kentucky General Assembly will convene for the first time on Jan. 6.
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