02

By Marilyn Odendahl
The Indiana Citizen
August 2, 2024

As Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita claimed a “big win” in his sanctuary cities lawsuit against the city of East Chicago, his office is continuing to litigate a similar lawsuit against the Monroe County Sheriff and preparing to file a complaint against the city of Gary.

Rokita had sued East Chicago in early July, asserting the city’s welcoming ordinance, adopted in 2017, in part to make immigrants feel safe in reporting crime, violated the state’s prohibition against sanctuary cities. The city’s common council responded to the lawsuit by repealing the ordinance on July 24.

“We are pleased East Chicago will no longer operate as a sanctuary city, giving safe harbor to illegal aliens, and are (sic) now following state law,” Rokita said in a statement. “This is a big win for hardworking Hoosiers and legal immigrants who came to our great nation the right way.”

The repealing ordinance stated East Chicago had determined that the welcoming ordinance “is not effective or necessary for the protections of the rights of residents and visitors nor to ensure the health and safety of all residents and visitors.”

In announcing the dismissal of the East Chicago lawsuit, Rokita stated his office was “pushing forward” with the lawsuit against Monroe County officials over the sheriff’s policy for handling requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case is being turned over to a special judge, after all the judges in Monroe County, citing a conflict of interest, recused themselves, according to the court’s docket.

Also, Rokita’s office has given the city of Gary a deadline of Aug. 6 to repeal its welcoming ordinance. In a July 24 letter to the common council’s attorney, Rinzer Williams III, the attorney general’s office referenced Gary’s effort to prevent litigation by amending the ordinance, but the AG said the revised version was still violating state law.

The city of Gary did not respond to a request for comment.

Exercising new enforcement power

Ever since the Indiana General Assembly earlier this year gave the attorney general’s office the power to enforce the state statute prohibiting sanctuary cities, Rokita has been pursuing legal action against municipalities he has determined are violating the law.

The Indiana legislature passed the law prohibiting sanctuary cities in 2011, but in a 2022 ruling, a unanimous Indiana Supreme Court found private individuals did not have standing to file a lawsuit against a municipality that had adopted an ordinance or policy regarding the treatment of immigrants. Lawmakers took another look at the statue during the 2024 legislative session and added a provision that gave the state’s attorney general the enforcement power.

Even before the amended statute became effective on July 1, Rokita sent warning letters to the cities of East Chicago and Gary, the Monroe County Sheriff and the West Lafayette Police Department. He told them their welcoming ordinances and policies were violating state law and had to be rescinded, or his office would be filing lawsuits against them.

West Lafayette revised its policy in June and, so far, appears to have avoided being sued.

East Chicago was the first municipality the attorney general’s office sued.

A common feature of the local ordinances and policies being challenged by the attorney general’s office is a reluctance to abide by immigration detainer requests from ICE. The detainers, which are not legally binding, typically ask local authorities to hold an individual for another 48 hours; however, the requests are usually made when the local court has ordered that individual to be released from custody.

Consequently, municipalities could be sued for violating the Constitution by wrongfully detaining a person who was free to go. Moreover, ICE officials sometimes take longer than 48 hours to retrieve the individuals, increasing the local community’s risk of a lawsuit the longer the person is detained.

East Chicago’s welcoming ordinance stated the city supports the enforcement of federal immigration laws. But, the ordinance noted, the city is also mindful of the Fourth Amendment’s requirement that police have probable cause before arresting and detaining anyone, and of the Tenth Amendment’s ban on commandeering local governments to perform federal functions.

Consequently, the ordinance barred local officials from assisting federal agencies by continuing to hold individuals who had already been released from custody, providing support for immigration enforcement operations, and enforcing federal civil immigration laws.

In the repealing ordinance, the city, again, nods to constitutional protections. “East Chicago remains committed to upholding the Constitutions of the State of Indiana and the United States, upholding the laws of the State of Indiana, protecting the rights of its residents and visitors, and to ensuring the health and safety of all residents and visitors,” the repealing ordinance said.

Litigation against other municipalities moves forward

In the letter to the Gary Common Council attorney, Lori Torres, the chief deputy in the Indiana attorney general’s office, referenced the amendments made to the city’s welcoming ordinance. The letter does not indicate when the amendments were made, and the council’s agendas and minutes posted on its website do not include any mention of the ordinance.

Torres wrote that despite the revisions, the ordinance “remains noncompliant” and the attorney general’s office “will be bound to file suit.” She did not identify provisions or specify how the ordinance was violating state law, but she gave Gary an Aug. 6 deadline to “take corrective action.”

“Multiple provisions of Ordinance 9100, as amended, continue expressly to prohibit agents of the City of Gary from taking immigration enforcement actions that are permissible under federal law,” Torres wrote. “That directly contravenes state law. Moreover, the Ordinance, taken as a whole, plainly has the purpose and will have the effect of discouraging cooperation with federal immigration authorities to the full extent allowed by federal law.”

In Monroe County, the task of appointing a special judge to preside over the case has been turned over to Greene County Circuit Court Judge Erik Allen. The parties in the lawsuit were given the opportunity to select a special judge after the Monroe Circuit Court judges stepped aside, but, according to court documents, the county and the state failed to agree on who should preside over the case.

To date, a special judge has not been named.

Also, the attorneys from Bloomington’s legal department, who are representing the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office have asked the court for more time to prepare and file an answer to the attorney general’s complaint. They told the court they could have the filing ready by Sept. 4.

Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He has been a content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com, and a planner for other papers, including the Louisville Courier Journal.

The Indiana Citizen is a nonpartisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at marilyn.odendahl@indianacitizen.org.