08/04/2026
UPDATE: She has been released‼️
https://www.wdrb.com/news/judge-orders-release-of-woman-detained-by-ice-in-louisville-who-claimed-she-was-denied/article_c66859ad-2508-4d49-8e6a-0f8dbeb06cbc.html?fbclid=IwdGRleATcO5BwZG9mBWZkaWQWULv1RP5J1U7-CeAuEGpgzBUQN51VjGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR6VOc1OhEXMEudJ8g3aKwVw3-2_XidIAdNsxZjKX7MpOkrUV670jWb9jKD9-Q_aem_y2juqfmy6_dzEWlw6xtSpA
I can’t believe this happened to a warrior, and there’s little to no news coverage about her. I understand that people have different opinions about immigration, but this is beyond cruel. We all know that extreme stress can trigger a sickle cell pain crisis. My heart is with her, and I hope she gets the care and compassion she deserves.
A Louisville mother with sickle cell disease
PASSED OUT in an ICE transport van with no air conditioning on the morning of July 22, after officers refused to give her water.
Sarafinah Bukirwa, 31, walked into Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport that morning with a suitcase and a ticket to Los Angeles, where she was traveling to a national sickle cell conference. She had been discharged from a Louisville hospital the day before, after a sickle cell crisis.
She never reached her gate. ICE agents handcuffed her and drove her to the Grayson County Detention Center in Leitchfield, as Justin Hicks of Louisville Public Media first reported.
She had all of her prescribed medications with her when they took her.
In handwritten statements from inside the jail, Bukirwa writes that she lost consciousness in the transport van, that there was no air conditioning and that officers refused to give her water. She writes that a nurse checked her pulse and oxygen at intake, then told other officers she was "not sick, she's causing drama." She describes being physically restrained while a stimulant was held over her nose and mouth until she tapped out, seven times, while officers LAUGHED.
She writes she received none of her sickle cell medication for the first 24 hours, spending the night with chest and body pain, waiting until 9 a.m. for a drug prescribed every six hours. Her hijab was removed in front of male officers.
The warning about stroke and death came from her physician, Dr. Goetz Kloecker at the University of Louisville Brown Cancer Center.
Her brother Isaac Kabunga drove her to the airport and was still at the curb when agents walked her out. "She told me she had chest pain. Her voice was very low. She could barely speak," he said Wednesday. He said the crisis has now reached her leg and she can't use it.
Grayson County Jailer Jason Woosley says Bukirwa "is currently receiving and has been receiving all the medications that she is prescribed." Her family says her pills were crushed into a cup of water for days, so she could not tell what she was being given.
Bukirwa entered the country legally, has valid work authorization and a pending asylum case, and has never been charged with a crime. Rep. Morgan McGarvey is demanding body camera footage, intake video and every medication log from her first 48 hours.
A woman detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Louisville's airport who said she was denied medication for her sickle cell disease was released from custody Friday.
