Beata Siemionkowicz, a Chicago resident, Polish immigrant and green card holder, is suing the jailer of the Campbell County Detention Center and several federal immigration officials after having been detained in the facility for over a year.
The suit, which you can read here, alleges the federal government and detention center violated constitutional habeas corpus protections. It was filed with the aid of attorneys from the ACLU of Kentucky and Illinois, who are demanding authorities furnish a reason for her detention or release her.
“We are asking the federal court to restore normal procedure and require the government to show that our client should be detained – not place that burden on her,” said Bethany Baxter, an ACLU of Kentucky attorney. “Our constitutional system – and the protections it demands – make clear that the burden for explaining an oppressive, destructive, ongoing detention is on the government, not the individual the government wants to punish.”
Siemionkowicz has been living legally in the United States since 1995. She got her green card in 2003. Her daughter, Gabi, told LINK nky that her mother tried twice to go through the naturalization process but was unsuccessful.
DHS issued an order for her removal last summer, citing her criminal history. Siemionkowicz has two misdemeanor charges on her record, both in Lake County, Illinois. One occurred in 2005, and another occurred in 2011. Both charges were for retail theft, for which she was fined and subject to either supervision or conditional release.
She has not committed any crimes since and has always had proper immigration documentation. DHS also argued in Siemionkowicz’s removal order that she had a criminal record back in Poland, but her family shared a stamped affidavit from the Polish government stating she didn’t have a criminal record in Poland as of Feb. 25, 2025, challenging the DHS’ account.
Siemionkowicz was transported from Illinois to Campbell County with Donna Hughes-Brown, another immigrant who had been housed in Campbell County, whom LINK nky covered in February. Hughes-Brown and Siemionkowicz were both detained because they had prior criminal records in the U.S., even though they had both served their sentences and had followed proper immigration procedures. Hughes-Brown was eventually released.
All three of the NKY’s jails house immigration detainees, some of whom, like Siemionkowicz, have been transported from out of state. Boone County Jail and Campbell County Detention Center have the two highest average daily immigration detainee populations in the commonwealth, according to a recent analysis from the League of Women Voters. Kenton County Detention Center is in the top nine.
Immigration Judge Kelly Johnson in the Memphis Immigration Court denied Siemionkowicz’s request for bond in August 2025, arguing she was a flight risk. The new lawsuit argues the federal government placed the burden of proving she was not a flight risk on her, rather than the government.
“Petitioner has been detained for over 12 months, even though Respondents have not established by clear and convincing evidence that she is a danger to the community or a flight risk—a violation of her Fifth Amendment right to be free from detention without due process,” reads the complaint.
A subsequent immigration hearing in December denied Siemionkowicz’s petition to cancel her removal order. She has since appealed, and that appeal process is ongoing.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky this week.