This story was originally published by TheStatehouseFile.com.
By Anna Cecil
TheStatehouseFile.com
December 10, 2025
After blocking an immigration bill last session, igniting a fight with Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, introduced a similar bill Tuesday that still drew criticism and concerns about constitutionality.
During Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, the public had the chance to testify on Senate Bill 76, authored by Brown, which ultimately passed committee along party lines. It would provide special training to Indiana sheriffs on how to detain and process illegal immigrants as well as guidelines on consequences for businesses that knowingly hire them, among other provisions.
SB 76 seems to be a revised version of House Bill 1531, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, during the 2025 legislative session. Brown blocked that bill from being heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee due to concerns from local law enforcement and questions about its constitutionality.
Rokita, a major supporter of the bill, accused Brown of killing it and falsely stated on a radio show that she did so because she is related to an illegal immigrant.
During Tuesday’s committee meeting, Erin Tuttle, legislative director for the attorney general’s office, testified that the current bill “is an inadequate response to the (immigration) crisis.”
In its current language, the bill would allow the state to collect a $10,000 fine from businesses that knowingly hire undocumented immigrants. Tuttle said the AG’s office would like the bill to penalize the licenses of those businesses and that federal law does not allow states to fine them.
Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, questioned if the attorney general’s office would defend the bill if it passed despite its statement of opposition. Tuttle answered that the office would defend it, but it would lose.
“While federal law preempts states from imposing criminal or civil penalties on employers who hire unauthorized aliens, it does allow one powerful and constitutionally upheld enforcement mechanism, and that is to sanction business licenses,” Tuttle said.
“The Supreme Court has confirmed that states may sanction the license of employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers. If Indiana refuses to adopt the one enforcement mechanism available under federal law, it cannot credibly claim to be a leader in combating illegal immigration.”
Taylor questioned the attorney general’s willingness and ability to defend laws in court that it previously testified against.
“The AG’s office needs to stay out of these committees,” he said, “because you have a job for everybody in this room, which is to defend anything we pass.”
Nathan Roberts, co-founder of Save Heritage Indiana, which has a stated mission to “reverse mass migration,” told the committee he agrees that the bill is “too lax.” He also was in favor of licensure penalties for businesses and requested that the bill give jails immunity in civil lawsuits.
Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, asked Roberts if he thought jails should have civil immunity in cases when they wrongfully detain a U.S. citizen for multiple days, potentially causing major ramifications like losing a job.
Roberts said he had not heard of a case like that and laws should not be based on specific “extreme cases.”
“So many of our fundamental rights come from those situations though, Nate,” Pol said. “I hope you understand that.”
Kelly Thompson, a Hoosier from Columbia City who is also running for Congress, came to testify in opposition to the bill and questioned its constitutionality. She said she was not only concerned about the bill causing employers and educators to be charged for unknowingly hiring or teaching illegal immigrants but also its effect on documented and undocumented immigrants.
“With this bill, we can be grabbed and detained if we can’t produce our papers on demand,” she said. “Guilty until proven innocent.”
Thompson said Brown is authoring the bill solely out of a political motive to be re-elected.
“Sen. Brown … will be primaried by a challenger who will say she is soft on immigration,” Thompson said.
Rachel Van Tyle, director of legal services for Exodus Refugee Immigration, said she was concerned about a part of the bill that would allow Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid data to be shared with the state. She said this seems like an attempt to collect personal information like home addresses.
During a press conference about two hours before the committee, Brown said there is no indication that benefits have been given to immigrants without official legal status but that audits would be checked to ensure that is the case.
Tippecanoe County Sheriff Bob Goldsmith testified in favor of the bill, saying it would set uniform standards for sheriffs across the state to follow when it comes to immigration.
Others testifying in favor of the bill included Mitch Roob, Indiana secretary of the Family and Social Services Administration; Mike Speedy, Indiana commissioner of labor; and Barbra Rosenberg, who spoke on behalf of the Indiana State Police and Gov. Mike Braun.
Pol, who voted no, told the committee that he takes issue with state law enforcement doing the job of the federal government. He closed with a story about a family who was afraid to call the police when their son committed suicide because they were unsure if the police would take them into custody as immigrants.
“When you can’t call for help in a tragic situation like that, regardless of what your status is, that gives me great pause to how we’re approaching this,” Pol said. “I think that we have to let sheriffs be sheriffs. We have to let local police be local police.”
The bill passed 6-2 along party lines. It will next head to the Senate for a second reading in January during the regular legislative session.
Anna Cecil is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news site powered by Franklin College journalism students. Chloe White contributed to this report.
