"She's declining": Family fights for medical care as Louisville woman sits in ICE custody

A week after her arrest at Louisville's airport, Sarafinah Bukirwa's family says her condition is worsening- and they're still waiting on answers.

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Sarafinah Bukirwa walked into the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on July 22 with a suitcase and a plane ticket to Los Angeles, where she was scheduled to speak at a national Sickle Cell Warrior convention. She never made her flight. Instead, ICE agents handcuffed her, walked her out of the terminal, and drove her to the Grayson County Detention Center, where, a week later, her family says her health is getting worse by the day.

The allegations prompted U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, to send a letter this week to David J. Venturella, a senior ICE official in Washington, calling Bukirwa's detention "particularly troubling" given that she entered the country legally, holds valid work authorization, and has a pending asylum claim with no criminal charges pending against her.

Bukirwa is the founder of the Sarafinah Sickle Cell Society, a nonprofit that her family says delivers medication and newborn screenings to sickle cell patients across Uganda and, more recently, in the United States. She has lived with sickle cell disease since childhood and had just been discharged from a Louisville hospital after a medical crisis two days before her arrest. She is also a nursing student at Joyce University and has a pending asylum case.

Her brother, Isaac Kabunga, was the one who drove her to the airport that morning.

"I see her coming out with the ice agents," Kabunga said, describing the moment agents placed his sister in handcuffs. He said they were running late, so he was waiting on the curb to make sure she made the flight.

He told officers she has sickle cell disease and needed her medication. He says he rushed home, grabbed her medical records, and delivered them to ICE agents at the downtown federal building, before Bukirwa was transferred to Grayson County. He was sent home with her luggage.

Kabunga and Ashlee Lytlesen, a close family friend who met Bukirwa years ago through a Louisville maternal health nonprofit, say the days since have been agonizing. Visitation for ICE detainees at Grayson County is limited to Fridays and Sundays, and when Kabunga and Lytlesen's wife, a paramedic, were finally able to see Bukirwa, they said her face was swollen, her speech was slow, and her energy was gone- signs, Kabunga said, of a sickle cell crisis he has watched his sister go through since they were children in Uganda.

"Somebody who doesn't know her would think she's pretending," Kabunga said. "But if you don't pay attention very closely, it can get bad very fast."

Grayson County Detention Center Jailer Jason Woosley provided written answers to questions about Bukirwa's treatment this week, though he said federal HIPAA law limits what he can disclose about her specific medical status. He confirmed Bukirwa arrived at the facility on July 22 and said she has been receiving care from the jail's 24-hour on-site medical staff since her arrival.

Concerns about her medication

The family says for days, Bukirwa's medication was crushed and dissolved into a cup of water rather than given to her as identifiable pills, leaving her unsure whether she was getting her full, correct dose. It wasn't until the following Sunday- days into her detention- that she reported being handed pills directly for the first time.

According to the family, Bukirwa was on several medications after recently being released from the hospital because of a sickle cell crisis.

Grayson County Jailer Jason Woosley said it is standard protocol at Grayson County for narcotic medications to be crushed before they're dispensed, due to the risk of abuse, and that all medications and dosages are administered as prescribed by a physician.

Commissary money she isn't allowed to spend

Ashlee Lytlesen says Bukirwa's requests to use commissary money to purchase hydrating drinks- something her family says is critical for someone managing sickle cell disease- were denied.

"Our priority is medical," Lytlesen said. "We don't want this to be a situation where she passes away there." She also said they are concerned about Bukirwa's nutrition intake.

Woosley said every inmate is classified during booking, and Bukirwa's classification placed her in the facility's special housing unit, where only hygiene items- not food or drink items- can be ordered from commissary. He said the jail's menus are reviewed by a state-licensed dietitian and meet state and federal requirements.

Questions about her religious rights

Bukirwa is Muslim and wears a hijab. Lytlesen says that in the letters Bukirwa has sent from Grayson County, she described being made to undress in front of male officers during intake and having her religious head covering removed- the first time, that Lytlesen had ever seen Bukirwa without it was in her mugshot.

"It's heartbreaking," Lytlesen said.

Woosley provided Grayson County's written policy on religious head coverings, which states that detainees cannot be required to remove a religious head covering for a booking photo as long as it doesn't obstruct a clear view of the face. The policy does require that the covering be removed so the head can be searched for contraband- a search that, per policy, is supposed to be conducted by someone of the same sex- after which the covering is returned.

Woosley said Bukirwa was evaluated by female medical staff and searched by female jail staff at intake, and that her head covering was returned to her once medical and security checks were complete. He said she still has it.

I am choosing not to share that mugshot here out of respect for Bukirwa. She was not wearing a head covering in the photo posted on the jail's website on July 28th. That photo was removed from the detention center's website after my inquiry to the Grayson County Jailer.

McGarvey demands records, footage

U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey is demanding a wide range of records, including all body camera and surveillance footage from Bukirwa's intake and first 48 hours in custody, her complete booking file, the names of every officer and medical staffer involved in her intake, and logs documenting her welfare checks, meals, and medication distribution. He's also asking for any incident reports filed against Grayson County staff or medical facilities since March 2025.

What's next

Bukirwa's family says they are working with attorneys to file a bond motion or a habeas corpus petition citing medical neglect on her behalf, but as of this week nothing had been submitted.

Kabunga and Lytlesen say they've reached out to multiple lawmakers' offices, including Sen. Rand Paul's, and expect representatives from his office to visit Bukirwa at the detention facility this week.

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