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Ky. (WAVE) – A Louisville-area family is calling for answers after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained a Ugandan woman at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, and her family says she was denied critical medication for sickle cell disease for more than 24 hours
Sarafinah Bukirwa arrived in the United States from Uganda in April 2025 with a work authorization and a pending asylum claim. She runs a nonprofit focused on sickle cell disease awareness and has lived with the condition her entire life
On Tuesday, July 22, her brother Isaac dropped her off at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport. She was traveling to a sickle cell conference in California — one day after being discharged from the hospital following a sickle cell crisis. She never reached her gate
ICE agents detained her at the airport and transported her to the Grayson County Detention Center in Leitchfield, Kentucky. She had all of her prescribed medications with her at the time of detention
In handwritten statements obtained from inside the facility, Bukirwa describes losing consciousness in the transport van, writing that there was no air conditioning and that officers refused to give her water
She writes that upon arrival, a nurse checked her pulse and oxygen levels, then told other officers she was “not sick — she’s causing drama.” She writes that she was physically restrained and that a stimulant was held over her nose and mouth until she “tapped out” — seven times — and that officers laughed. She also writes that her hijab was removed in front of male officers
Bukirwa writes that she did not receive any of her sickle cell medication for the first 24 hours of her detention. She describes spending the night with chest pain and body pain, waiting until 9 a.m. for medication that is prescribed every six hours
“All I need is assistance,” she writes
Her physician, Dr. Goetz Kloecker at the University of Louisville Brown Cancer Center, wrote in a letter that without urgent medical evaluation, Bukirwa faces “significant risk for severe infections, stroke, organ damage, and death.”
Her brother Isaac Kabunga spoke at a press conference Wednesday
“She told me she had chest pain. Her voice was very low. She could barely speak,” Kabunga said. “And this morning I received another phone call again from her — she said the crisis started from her leg. So she couldn’t use one of her legs. And she’s in a lot of pain.”
Louisville Congressman Morgan McGarvey has sent an urgent records request to ICE demanding body camera video, intake documents, and medical logs from Bukirwa’s detention. McGarvey said she has never been charged with a crime
“She came here legally. She has played by the rules and followed the laws. And she has been taken away from her family down to a jail in Grayson County, Kentucky,” McGarvey said. “Her youngest son turns two on Friday of this week.”
As of Wednesday, Bukirwa’s family said neither the Grayson County Jailer’s office nor ICE’s Chicago Field Office had publicly confirmed what medical care, if any, she has received since her detention. Her attorneys have filed a habeas corpus motion in federal court
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