Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a lawsuit against Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté on July 11, alleging that a county directive involving federal immigration custody violates an Indiana law requiring cooperation with federal immigration officers.
Marté got a letter from Rokita in May threatening legal action if they did not get notice that a previous version of the policy had been revoked by July 1.
According to the lawsuit, Marté implemented an updated version of the policy, dubbed MCSO-12, on June 29.
The Indiana Daily Student was unable to locate MCSO-12, but Monroe County Attorney Justin Roddye informed Indiana Public Media that the policy states: “MCSO employees shall not detain individual(s) solely based on a non-criminal/administrative ICE detainer” and “MCSO employees shall not hold an individual(s) beyond their scheduled release date based on a non-criminal/administrative ICE detainer.”
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to IDS’s request for comment.
Rokita’s May 14 letter and July 11 lawsuit allege that the directive violates a federal statute that prohibits states from “enacting or implementing restrictions on taking certain actions regarding citizenship or immigration status,” such as communication and cooperation with federal officials and the exchange of information with other government entities. The complaint is seeking “an order compelling Sheriff Marté and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office to comply with Indiana Law.”
A new state law signed by Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb in March, which Rokita cited in both the letter and the lawsuit, gives Rokita the authority to take legal action against government bodies and universities that do not comply with “statutes requiring cooperation with federal immigration officials,” effective July 1.
The MCSO-12 replaced the previous version of the Monroe County directive, which granted the Sheriff the “discretion to cooperate with federal immigration officials by detaining an individual on the basis of an immigration detainer after that individual becomes eligible for release under certain conditions” and permitted the release of undocumented immigrants charged with low-level crimes from jail without holding them for federal immigration officials. In 2018, then-sheriff Brad Swain reviewed and re-approved the policy, which had been a part of Monroe County Jail instructions since 2014.
According to the Herald-Times and Indiana Public Media, Swain stated that in 2020, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials would have access to the department’s fingerprint information and could still request that Monroe County hold a detainee for federal immigration officials for up to 48 hours. He stated that his administration would continue to follow such requests and current ICE flags, despite the fact that ICE and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office have not signed a formal agreement.
On July 9, Rokita filed a similar complaint against the East Chicago community for its 2017 “Welcoming City” ordinance, which designated the community as a “sanctuary city,” meaning it protects undocumented immigrants from deportation. The July 9 lawsuit also contends that the East Chicago ordinance violates Indiana law by “restricting enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law.” This lawsuit comes after he addressed a letter to the city in May.
Though the Indiana law cited in Rokita’s cases against Monroe County and the City of East Chicago technically prohibits “sanctuary cities” since 2011, multiple courts around the country, including a federal district court, have since deemed similar bans unlawful. In 2020, a local immigrant advocacy group attempted to prevent the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department from honoring any federal immigration detainees, arguing that doing so violated Fourth Amendment protections against excessive search and seizure.
Rokita also submitted letters to the cities of Gary and West Lafayette in May but has yet to take legal action against either community.
