A new Indiana law will prohibit universities and governmental bodies from limiting local, federal and state immigration law enforcement. This law could affect students and staff at IU and require increased compliance with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The law, signed by Gov. Mike Braun on March 5, will also make it illegal for universities to knowingly employ or hire undocumented immigrants.
Indiana’s attorney general will be able to impose a civil fine of up to $10,000 for each noncompliance violation and bring court action against violators.
The Indiana University Police Department referred the Indiana Daily Student to an IU spokesperson.
IU spokesperson Teresa Mackin did not reply to multiple requests for comment.
“At the end of the day, we are sovereign nation only if we have secure borders,” said bill author Republican Sen. Liz Brown, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported. “And the last administration did a disservice to immigrants and more importantly, to U.S. citizens, by ignoring our immigration laws and removing any barriers to entry.”
In 2025, internationals students made up 27% of the IU graduate and professional student enrollment.
Matthew Jackson, an IU Graduate and Professional Student Government representative, spoke against Senate Enrolled Act 76 at a Bloomington Faculty Council meeting March 3.
Jackson called the legislation “very vague” and said it is unclear what scenarios will be made illegal.
One scenario, he said, might be an IU employee not allowing people who claim to be ICE officers into the classroom after they refuse to present identification. Jackson said he is worried this could be seen as not cooperating with federal officials under the new law.
A previous version of the bill stated violations of the law would have to be "knowingly or intentionally” carried out in order to be illegal, but the language was removed in a Feb. 3 version of the bill.
Now, Jackson is concerned employees may unknowingly violate the law and be punished. He said how the law is written encourages more compliance than needed with those who claim to be part of federal law enforcement agencies.
International students on campus may be overly willing to comply with people who falsely claim they are enforcing immigration law due to fear of prosecution under SEA 76, Jackson said. Over 5,600 international students were enrolled at IU in Fall 2025.
Jackson said the cases in which federal law enforcement has taken someone into custody based on an assumption that they could be an undocumented immigrant raise red flags for many people on campus, not just immigrants.
The law also makes it illegal for a university or governmental body to prohibit communication about a person's immigration status with local, state or federal government entities.
Jackson said he also thinks students could be targeted by another round of legal status revocation.
In April 2025, multiple IU students had their visas revoked, along with more than 1,800 college students around the country, in response to an executive order from President Donald Trump.
“I’m worried that this bill could open the door for a little bit more retaliation against those types of people who have done nothing wrong,” Jackson said. “They’re just here to do their research, they’re here to learn, they’re here to teach, they shouldn’t have to be dealing with this.”
Jackson said IU should make changes to help students who could be impacted by the law’s required compliance with ICE agents, such as notifying students if agents are suspected to be on campus and preparing employees to respond while not violating SEA 76. He hopes the school will work with IU community members to understand what needs to be done to keep the community safe.
Margaret McConville, treasurer of the steering committee of IU’s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America, said the law promotes a “culture of fear” on campus.
Since the April 2025 student visa revocations, McConville said international students she has talked to have been worried about their visas being taken away.
“We should be proud of a diverse campus,” McConville said. “Truly, immigrants make America great, so the fact that this bill is put in place purely to undermine specific people’s freedoms is unacceptable.”
IU YDSA had been advocating for IU to become a sanctuary campus, a campus that enforces policies that give resources to immigrant students and their families and prohibit campus security from working alongside federal immigration agents, McConville said. Indiana Graduate Workers Coalition and the IU Graduate and Professional Student Government have also recently championed IU becoming a sanctuary campus.
But now, IU YDSA has had to pivot and focus first on protecting individual students and staff.
McConville wants IU to require ICE agents to present a warrant signed by a judge in arrests or searches.
She also wants dorms established as places ICE cannot enter, but said that would be more challenging to enforce.
Because dormitories are private residences, ICE officers cannot legally enter them without consent from the occupant or a judicial warrant, according to advocacy organization the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. Students can refuse to allow ICE agents to enter their living space unless the agents have a judicial warrant. This applies to on and off campus residences.
McConville is worried that “as things heat up politically,” freedom of speech on campus will get even worse. IU was ranked the third-worst college in the U.S. for free speech by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in September 2025.
She has also heard about students preparing for the “worst-case scenario” of deportation by carrying their legal papers with them every day in case they are confronted by ICE agents.
“To see this bill put in place is a major blow,” McConville said, “but it’s not something that we’re going to stop fighting.”
