Lexington immigration attorney advises residents to know their rights after Lexington ICE sighting

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A Lexington immigration attorney is urging residents to know their rights after a reported ICE sighting Wednesday morning.

The nonprofit Kentucky Neighbors Immigration Clinic posted to social media confirming the sighting. Immigration and family attorney Heather Hadi said she received a flood of messages from clients and local businesses before the nonprofit made its post.

“We started getting frantic texts and screenshots and even local businesses contacted me because they had heard from their employees that ice was spotted on Alexandria this morning,” Hadi said.

Hadi said the sighting triggered a “knee-jerk fear reaction” among many of the clients she serves.

“It starts elevating the feeling that there is a level of threat here, that there may be ICE enforcement operations happening similar to what we are seeing across the nation,” she said.

A photo posted by the Kentucky Neighbors Immigration Clinic appears to show two individuals dressed in civilian clothing wearing police vests, standing in front of the driver’s side door of a vehicle.

Hadi said she believes the sighting was an isolated incident but stressed that residents should be prepared if approached by ICE officers.

“Have a safety plan. Know where all of your important documentation is. Make sure you have a scanned copy of that important documentation as well,” she said.

Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton told WKYT she had no prior knowledge of the situation and said she saw no reason for residents to be concerned.

“I haven’t seen a reason to be concerned. I know some people want to stir things up like things got stirred up in Minneapolis, but we are just kind of going about our business every day,” Gorton said.

Hadi said she would not be surprised if Lexington sees additional isolated ICE sightings.

“This administration has enacted a certain amount of quotas for people to be detained per day or deportations per week, and because of that they are issuing a lot of old deportation orders, they are re-issuing them, so now there are active warrants,” she said.

WKYT reached out to the Kentucky Neighbors Immigration Clinic and ICE officials about Wednesday’s activity. Neither had responded as of publication.

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