Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté says he plans to defend his office’s policy on the detention of undocumented immigrants.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sued Marté and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) Sunday, arguing that this policy violates state immigration law.
According to the sheriff’s office, Rokita’s complaint is that Marté will not detain people solely on a request from the federal government if there is no probable cause or detention order from a judge.
The sheriff’s policy, Standard Operating Procedure MCSO-12, says the office does not enforce immigration or citizen status unless it’s legally required.
Read: Rokita’s complaint against the sheriff’s office
“My office takes seriously our obligation to enforce the laws while respecting everyone’s constitutional rights,” Marté said in a statement. “Our Standard Operating Procedure does exactly that. We are prepared to defend vigorously the policy in court.”
Rokita argues the policy violates Senate Enrolled Act 181, which went into effect July 1.
The new law strengthens a 2011 law banning local governments and colleges from withholding information from federal authorities, such as a person’s immigration status, work location or contact information. The July 1 law allows the Attorney General’s office to enforce the ban.
In response to the original ban, some municipalities later passed “sanctuary city” ordinances, including East Chicago, Gary and West Lafayette. Rokita also sued East Chicago over allegedly violating this law, but that case was dismissed when East Chicago repealed the ordinance.
