LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After a weekend of nationwide protests, including in Louisville, there are accusations that ICE has been removing people from their communities through the collaboration of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program.
On Monday, dozens of people lined up across the building on South Third Street where the alleged removals took place.
“My family came to this country in 1998. It took almost 10 years for us to get to citizenship here and thousands of dollars,” said Celine Mutuyemariya, the organizing director of the Black Action Leadership Coalition of Kentucky. “I can’t imagine what my life would be like right if my parents had went into this ISAP building and never been able to be let out.”
ISAP is an immigration program ran by ICE that allows immigrants to check-in and work through their immigration process, but is not a detention center itself.
A flyer image, provided by the Louisville Showing Up for Racial Justice organization, shows two alleged instances where immigrants were arrested by unmarked ICE agents and removed from their community.
“The deportation process has become something that looks more like abduction and entrapment instead of any sort of legal operation,” said David Horvath, with Louisville SURJ.
Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, has expressed concerns about deportations without due process.
President Donald Trump said it would take 200 years to provide a trial for everyone the administration is looking to deport.
The ISAP in Louisville is run by the GEO Group, a private organization that has a large hand in the private prison and mental health facilities industries.
We’ve reached out to the GEO Group and ICE for comments regarding these accusations of collaboration and seeking clarity on if any arrests actually happened.
So far, Spectrum News has received no response.
