(Photo/Xain Ballenger at TheStatehouseFile.com)
By Ashlyn Myers
TheStatehouseFile.com
January 16, 2024
Since 2011, Indiana has outlawed sanctuary cities, which are communities whose local governments adopt policies limiting the help provided for the enforcement of federal immigration laws.
Traditionally, this means sanctuary cities will not ask people about their immigration status or disclose information about it to the federal government. Indiana law requires that communities either comply with federal law or receive legal permission to do otherwise.
Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, who helped push forward the 2011 sanctuary city legislation when he was in the Indiana House of Representatives, met with the Senate Homeland Security and Transportation Committee on Tuesday to attempt to make changes to the law.
Koch’s Senate Bill 181 would give Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita the right to enforce Indiana’s prohibition on sanctuary cities. Previously, the law offered any Indiana citizen the opportunity to bring legal action to make a sanctuary city comply with federal law, but SB 181 would only give this right to the attorney general.
Corrine Youngs, policy director and legislative counsel for the Office of the Attorney General, came in support of the bill on the office’s behalf, saying that while SB 181 doesn’t introduce a ton of new concepts to Indiana law, it helps tackle an enforcement issue the state has experienced for years.
Youngs shared that in 2017, the city of Gary adopted a “welcoming city,” or sanctuary city, ordinance that Gary citizens wanted to challenge.
“The ordinance, among other things, limits the city’s ability to investigate a person’s immigration status and to assist the United States in enforcing federal immigration laws,” Youngs said.
Youngs said the Indiana Supreme Court ruled that the citizens were not harmed by the welcoming city statute and therefore did not have enough legal standing to continue the case.
“They may have a statutory cause of action, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they suffer injury enough to bring a challenge in court,” Youngs said. “So there is no person for the purposes of this statute that will sustain an injury in order to enforce this law.”
Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, said he appreciated SB 181’s goal but brought up the idea of simply adding in the enforcement ability of the attorney general instead of taking away the rights of citizens. He suggested changing the language to allow an Indiana citizen or the attorney general the right to challenge a sanctuary city.
The bill passed on a vote of seven to one.
Ashlyn Myers is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
