BREAKING: Louisville, KY drops sanctuary city policies

Louisville, Kentucky has dropped its sanctuary city policies after pressure from the Department of Justice.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X, "In a major victory for the Department of Justice, the city of Louisville is dropping its sanctuary city policies as a result of a strong written warning from my office."

"This should set an example to other cities. Instead of forcing us to sue you — which we will, without hesitation — follow the law, get rid of sanctuary policies, and work with us to fix the illegal immigration crisis," Bondi added. 

According to Fox News, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, a Democrat, wrote in a letter that the policy shift was to avoid being targeted by the Trump administration over their sanctuary city policies. 

"My understanding is that, by returning to our pre-2017 practices and again honoring 48-hour detainers, thereby functionally extending the notice period to DHS from 5-12 hours to 48 hours, Louisville will no longer be considered a sanctuary jurisdiction and, as a result, will no longer be vulnerable to the negative consequences of this designation," Greenberg wrote to the DOJ. "The city will, therefore, adjust its detainer policy to avoid litigation over DOJ's allegations of federal preemption."

This comes after the Trump administration's Border Czar, Tom Homan, has said that he will flood sanctuary cities with ICE agents. 

Last month, Bondi wrote in a warning letter to Louisville that cities and states that have not complied with ICE detainers from the federal government have faced funding freezes as well as legal action. 

Louisville was not honoring the 48-hour period required to hold illegal immigrant suspects when ICE issued an immigration detainer. This allowed the suspects to be released before ICE could take them into custody. 

Greenberg wrote in a press release concerning the policy change, "Louisville stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants if we remain classified as a sanctuary city."

"Many of those funds are used to provide food, rental assistance, and medical care to our most vulnerable residents. I will not risk hurting them either. I believe we will best protect our law-abiding immigrant community and our entire city by focusing the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement actions on the few inmates in our jail who have been arrested for committing crimes and are subject to deportation," he added.