Indiana AG Sues Town For Trying To Stop ICE Detention Center

Attorney General Todd Rokita is suing an Indiana-located Chicago suburb for allegedly refusing to cooperate with immigration enforcement. The AG’s office alleges that the Town Council of Merrillville unlawfully interfered with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in the state.

The conflict between ICE and Merrillville, a town just south of Gary, began when ICE first sought to convert one of the town’s warehouses into a detention facility. This is part of the Trump administration’s effort to increase the number of detention facilities throughout the country.

Merrillville’s town council opposed the detention facility, and “pursued a concerted and coordinated course of action to pressure Merrillville property owners not to sell to ICE,” according to a July 30 press release from the AG’s office. One councilmember emailed Opus, a warehouse owner, asking for a “formal written commitment” to not allow a detention facility in the town, Fox 32 Chicago reported.

In another instance cited in the lawsuit, the CEO of warehouse company Tradelane sent an email saying his property could not be used as a detention facility because the town council opposed the project. He pointed to Merrillville’s Resolution 26-02, which states that the town council “unequivocally opposes the conversion of existing industrial warehouses within the Town for the creation of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility.”

“[B]ecause of the Town Council’s concerted and coordinated efforts to frustrate any sale of property in Merrillville for use as a DHS immigration detention facility, at least two transactions that may have facilitated DHS’s efforts to expand detention space fell through,” the lawsuit alleges.

Following this, the AG’s office sent Merrillville a cease-and-desist letter, demanding they end any actions to prevent the detention facility from being built. This letter asked Merrillville to rescind Resolution 26-02, as well as provide a public statement to ensure business owners that the town “will not oppose any real estate transactions with ICE or retaliate against property owners who engage in those transactions.”

The town council refused to comply with the letter, prompting further litigation, the press release alleges.

Merrillville’s actions, the AG claims, violate Indiana law under the Fostering and Advancing Immigration Reforms Necessary to Ensure Safety and Security (FAIRNESS) act, as well as Indiana’s anti-sanctuary laws. The Indiana code states that “A governmental body or a postsecondary educational institution may not limit or restrict the enforcement of federal immigration laws to less than the full extent permitted by federal law.”

Other instances of litigation over immigration enforcement occurred earlier this year, when the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Maryland over its sanctuary policies. Maryland’s sanctuary policies interfered with the federal government’s ability to enforce immigration laws, a July 9 press release alleges. In another case this April, the DOJ sued New Jersey over attempts to regulate federal law enforcement.

The Merrillville town council president did not respond to a request for comment.

Skye Graham is an intern at The Federalist. She is a senior History major at Hillsdale College and serves as the assistant features editor for the Hillsdale Collegian.