Northern Kentucky has seen a significant rise in immigrants legally challenging their detention — a trend lawyers say is due to both increased immigration enforcement and a change to federal policies that leave these cases, known as "habeas corpus," as the only option for people seeking release.
Already this year, there have been 40 cases of this type filed in the Eastern District of Kentucky, which covers half of the state. All are in Northern Kentucky. Last year, there were 37 of these cases filed in the court, all in the last four months of the year.
By definition, habeas corpus is a legal right that forces the government to bring a detained person to court and prove it has a lawful reason to hold them.
Federal courts all around the country have seen a similar increase in legal cases arguing immigrants have been unlawfully detained. As ProPublica found, the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts have resulted in more than 18,000 cases filed to federal court. This is more than the number of cases filed in the last three administrations combined, including Trump’s first term.
The rise in cases comes not only from increased immigration enforcement, but also new policies that keep people in detention all throughout their immigration proceedings, which can last for months. Previously, immigrants who posed no threat to the community and were not a flight risk could be released on bond. That is no longer the case.
Without the possibility of bonds, these people must stay in Northern Kentucky detention centers indefinitely throughout their court proceedings.
The 'devastating effects'
Nazly Mamedova is an immigration lawyer who represents detainees in Kentucky and has filed several of these cases. She said extended detention with no possibility of bond not only affects the person detained, but also their families and communities.
“Normally people who are detained are the breadwinners in the family,” Mamedova said. “Families losing that ability to support themselves has very devastating effects on the family.”
Mamedova spoke of a client in detention who had medical issues and was not receiving the necessary care. She also said some people become suicidal and very depressed in prolonged detention.
“The process itself is really hard on people,” Mamedova said.
Since September, the only tool left for lawyers to fight for immigrants’ release is by filing these habeas corpus petitions.
Why prolonged detention is on the rise
Last September, the federal Board of Immigration Appeals told its employees — which includes immigration judges — they can’t release people in immigration detention.
This comes at the same time as a change to classify all undocumented immigrants as “arriving aliens.” This definition used to refer to someone who was asking for permission to enter the country at a port of entry. They could legally live in the U.S. under parole, but were not officially admitted — which means they had no right to bonds. Now everyone falls under this title, whether they are actively seeking admittance or not, undocumented or under some form of temporary protection.
“They’re now classifying everyone as an arriving alien, so everywhere is a border,” Mamedova said.
With the BIA’s decision to repeal lawful bond hearings and postings, immigration lawyers have had no choice but to turn to habeas corpus to try and get people out of detention who do not pose a risk so they can be with their families while awaiting trial.
“They’ll stay in detention throughout their immigration proceedings,” Mamedova said. “And then they'll stay in detention throughout the Board of Immigration Appeals proceedings, if they appeal. And they’ll stay in detention even longer if they appeal [if] ICE cannot deport them to their country because there's some issues, then they’ll stay all that time, too. So, it basically becomes an indefinite detention.”
Nearly all of the cases filed both this year and last year are still pending a decision.
Even if an immigrant is granted habeas corpus, this still does not mean that they’re guaranteed to be released on bond. While winning the case grants lawyers the opportunity to ask for a bond hearing, Mamedova said judges are being instructed to deny those requests.
“Immigration judges across the nation have also been instructed to deny bonds even after habeas granted [by] saying that the person is a flight risk,” Mamedova said. “Our clients don't really get justice in court. The courts are so biased, immigration courts, they follow whatever is told to them by the administration.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice, which oversees the immigration courts, said the government is fully enforcing immigration law.
“If rogue judges followed the law in adjudicating cases and respected the Government’s obligation to properly prepare cases, there wouldn’t be an ‘overwhelming’ habeas caseload or concern over DHS following orders,” they wrote in an email to WVXU.
In the meantime, immigrants are being held at jails in Kenton, Boone and Campbell counties, waiting for their court dates.
These detention centers receive compensation for the number of people in custody, per their contracts with ICE. According to records obtained by WVXU, Kenton County received $88 a day per detainee in 2025. In December 2025, they received $298,760 for 174 inmates. Boone and Campbell counties have separate contracts to hold immigrant detainees.
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