Two days after federal ICE agents killed a Veterans Affairs nurse in Minneapolis, the Indiana Senate gave final approval Monday to a bill that would allow local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws and require Indiana law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.
Senate Bill 76, authored by State Sen. Liz Brown, states that the enforcement of federal immigration laws may be carried out by federal, state or local law enforcement. Under the bill, the Indiana Department of Correction will provide training to all sheriffs-elect on how to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
If someone is detained under an immigration detainer request, the bill states that the governmental body should give the judge authority to either grant or deny the person’s release on bail, as well as record in their file, comply with and inform the detainee of the immigration detainer request.
The bill prohibits an employer from recklessly or intentionally hiring or employing an unauthorized alien. If the attorney general or law enforcement agency finds probable cause that an employer has hired or employed an illegal immigrant, then the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will be notified, according to the bill.
Further, the bill requires the Office of the Secretary of State to submit a report to the legislative council with data on the number of Hoosiers who aren’t citizens and are enrolled in or receiving benefits through the Indian Residential Care Assistance Program, public assistance and welfare programs, family assistance services, Medicaid and Community Mental Health Services.
If a law enforcement officer, government body or educational institution is sued, the attorney general shall defend the party, the bill states. It also removes the mens rea standard when it comes to governmental or educational institutions for violating the citizenship and immigration status information and the enforcement of federal laws.
Brown proposed an amendment to her bill when it was heard on second reading Thursday that allows the governor to withhold state grants or funding to a city that doesn’t comply with the law. The amendment also allows the Attorney General to sue employers who hire undocumented immigrants.
Former President Joe Biden created a “humanitarian crisis” with open border policies, Brown said. Now, the federal government needs support from state and local law enforcement in immigration enforcement, she said.
“This state has always been on the side of law enforcement,” Brown said.
The vote on the bill came two days after ICE agents fatally shot Alex Pretti. While questions remained about the latest confrontation, use-of-force experts told The Associated Press that bystander video undermined federal authorities’ claim that Pretti “approached” a group of lawmen with a firearm and that a Border Patrol officer opened fire “defensively.”
There has been no evidence made public, they said, that supports a claim by Border Patrol senior official Greg Bovino that Pretti, who had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, intended to “massacre law enforcement.”
Pretti’s death came on the heels of the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good and another incident a week later in Minneapolis when a federal officer shot a man in the leg after being attacked with a shovel and broom handle while attempting to arrest a Venezuelan who was in the country illegally.
State Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, said the Senate should pause on this bill as “hate, fear and inhumanity is sweeping across our country on the heels of politically motivated occupations of United States cities by the very agency that this legislation demands that we align ourselves with.”
“We’ve seen time and time again that the current armed militia that’s acting on behalf of the United States government is poorly trained,” Hunley said. “I can’t get behind aligning ourselves with the chaos that’s being sown all over our country by ICE agents.”
State Sen. Mike Gaskill, R-Pendleton, said he was offended by Hunley’s testimony. The situation in Minneapolis would be different if state leaders would allow ICE agents into jails to remove illegal immigrants held in custody, he said.
“We’ve got people out there every day trying to enforce laws and they’re being called Nazis. They’re being attacked violently. They’re attempted to be run over by cars,” Gaskill said. “Sen. Brown’s bill is outstanding and it’s a way that we can keep this kind of chaos from happening in Indiana.”
State Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said she opposed the bill because county jails are running out of space and sheriffs have expressed that resources and staff are low. Yoder said the bill brushes up against “virtue signaling with real and devastating consequences.”
“When complex issues arise … we pass bills that look tough instead of policies that actually work. We expand enforcement and shift that cost downward. We claim victory and local communities are left to absorb the fallout,” Yoder said.
Brown said the bill “doesn’t pertain” to people who are in the country legally and following the laws.
“All laws on the books, no virtue signaling, making sure that law enforcement can fulfill what we ask of them,” Brown said.
After the 2025 session, Brown was criticized by Attorney General Todd Rokita for killing a bill called the FAIRNESS Act: Fostering and Advancing Immigration Reforms Necessary to Ensure Safety and Security. State Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, filed House Bill 1039, which would revive the FAIRNESS Act, but it hasn’t been heard in committee yet.
When the bill passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in December, when the Senate was in session to vote on mid-census redistricting, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita criticized it as a “watered-down, bizarro” version of an immigration bill that died last session.
Rokita said Brown “single-handedly” killed House Bill 1531 during the 2025 session because she wouldn’t let the bill be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Rokita said Senate Bill 76 “takes all the enforcement teeth out” of House Bill 1531.
“Instead of just backing the FAIRNESS Act, which has already been reintroduced, Sen. Brown is desperately attempting to rewrite history and make it look like she cares about the illegal immigration issue. She doesn’t and has proven that time and time again,” Rokita said.
The Senate voted 37-7, with all Republicans present voting in favor and all Democrats present voting against, to advance the bill to the House. Prescott and State Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers, will be House sponsors of the bill.
Ahead of his vote, State Senator Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, said when House Bill 1531 was presented in the 2025 session, the Fraternal Order of Police in Indianapolis held a news conference to oppose the legislation.
“I oppose militarizing our cities. I oppose the killing of U.S. citizens, execution style, on the streets of America just to enforce a federal policy. I don’t want that to happen at the hands of our local law enforcement or federal enforcement,” Qaddoura said.
The Associated Press contributed.
akukulka@post-trib.com
