The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office is asking a circuit court to dismiss a complaint by the Indiana Attorney General that a local policy on immigration violates state law.
Sheriff Ruben Marté said in August that he would defend the position of his department, which allows undocumented immigrants with local ties to be released from jail if they’re charged with low-level crimes.
Attorney General Todd Rokita contends the Monroe County policy violates a state law preventing one governmental organization from impeding another’s actions when enforcing immigration law or exchanging information.
Lawyers for the sheriff’s office responded in last week’s court filing that Rokita “can identify no actual complaint between (sheriff’s policy) and state law, because none exists.”
The filing goes on to say, “The Sheriff has in fact made diligent efforts to comply with state law at every turn.”
Rokita has sued other Indiana cities such as East Chicago over so called “sanctuary city” ordinances.
