A bill that would crack down on local compliance with immigration enforcement passed the Indiana House of Representatives on Thursday in a 61-28 vote. It now returns to the Senate for a final vote.
Senate Bill 76 prohibits universities or governmental bodies from restricting the enforcement of immigration law, regardless of whether the enforcement is carried out by federal, state or local law enforcement, as long as the enforcement actions are legal.
It also allows the state’s attorney general to bring court action against violators and impose civil penalties — a fine of up to $10,000 for each noncompliance violation.
State Sen. Liz Brown, a Republican representing Allen County and one of the bill’s authors, said in an X post Feb. 2 the bill “makes it clear to those harboring and encouraging illegal aliens that Indiana will not have its laws ignored.”
She said at the bill’s third reading in the Senate on Jan. 26 that the bill’s goals were to allow law enforcement to do their jobs and to prohibit local governments and universities from impeding the enforcement of state and federal immigration laws.
“It clarifies that no (governmental) unit or higher ed institution can violate these laws, and even if they are carried out by state or local law enforcement, they cannot bar them,” Brown said.
The bill specifies that it is illegal to knowingly hire or employ undocumented immigrants. It also requires the Office of the Secretary to submit a report of the number of noncitizens in the United States who are receiving certain public benefits, along with their immigration statuses.
The bill also clarifies that local governments must comply with all immigration detainer requests, or requests to hold people who are to be released from jail for an additional 48 hours so U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can retrieve them.
Lisa Koop, the National Immigrant Justice Center’s national director of legal services, explained that counties are authorized to hold people on the detainers. But if they go beyond the two-day window, counties could be held liable for violating people’s Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures, she said.
Currently, counties in Indiana can release individuals without holding them for extra time requested by ICE. Under the new bill, the holds would be mandatory.
The bill specifies that governmental bodies and their employees are not criminally or civilly liable for action taken in compliance with the request as long as it is legal. Koop said people who are held for longer than the 48 hours or never should have been subject to a detainer could still sue.
An amendment to the bill, which passed Tuesday, allows people subject to detainer requests to challenge them if they were misidentified or are a citizen.
“And then it’s still public money that has to be paid out to remedy those violations, if a judge finds that that violation occurred,” Koop said. “So this is terrible for taxpayers.”
Koop said the number of habeas corpus petitions, which are petitions used to challenge the lawfulness of detentions, that have been filed have skyrocketed in the last few months, which has overwhelmed courts.
On top of that, Koop said, she and her clients have seen overcrowded jails. Immigration detention in Indiana happens in Clay County Jail, Miami County, Clinton County, Clark County and a few smaller jails. But there are some Indiana immigrants that are held in Kentucky, and she said some jails there are crowded too.
“We hear from our clients that, you know, there are, they have to put mattresses on the floor because the jail cells are so full,” Koop said. “There’s no, you know, there’s no private bathrooms. There’s inedible food.”
Monroe County Commissioner Jody Madeira said ICE has been in the county for years, and while police don’t have an automatic legal duty to help ICE, they cannot interfere with ICE’s operations.
In the past, she said, Monroe County has complied with detainer requests by notifying ICE when the people they are holding will be released, rather than holding them for the extra two days.
Madeira had some concerns about the new bill, which she said could put more strain on local resources.
“I’m looking at SB 76 and I’m thinking that’s going to increase jail crowding. That’s going to increase the local administrative burden in my county, because it means more holds,” Madeira said. “More time in the jail, a greater administrative burden, and we’re already dealing with capacity problems.”
She also expressed worries that people who are witnesses to crimes or undocumented would avoid the police, which would reduce public safety.
In a Facebook video, State Sen. Shelli Yoder, a Democrat representing Bloomington, said the bill would push Indiana further in the wrong direction.
“The result is predictable when people are terrified, parents keep kids home from school, students don’t learn and people avoid work and daily life, and businesses suffer,” Yoder said. “That hurts public safety, opportunity, the economy and affordability.”
She called on viewers to contact their local representatives and ask them to vote no on the bill.
State Rep. Matt Pierce, a Democrat representing Bloomington, spoke in opposition to the bill at the hearing, saying it would allow the attorney general to “terrorize” local entities. He later voted against the bill.
"The Republican supermajorities are willing to tie all the institutions of the state to complying with ICE,” Pierce told the Indiana Daily Student after the vote. “Despite their record of killing U.S. citizens, violating people’s constitutional rights, not properly following law enforcement standards.”
He went on to clarify his concerns about the bill requiring higher education institutions to comply with ICE.
“Theoretically, if ICE comes to campus, I guess they get free reign,” Pierce said.
