ACLU Flags Indiana Immigration Arrests

INDIANAPOLIS — A new report is raising concerns about who’s being picked up by immigration agents in Indiana.

Between September 2023 and late June of this year, ICE made more than 3,600 arrests across the state, according to data reviewed by WISH-TV and collected by the Deportation Data Project. But only 42% of those people had a prior criminal conviction.

That number worries the ACLU of Indiana.

Chris Daley, the group’s executive director, told WISH-TV the issue isn’t just who is being arrested, but how many people are being swept up without a conviction — or even a pending charge in some cases.

“You shouldn’t conflate people convicted of violent crimes with people who’ve only been charged, or those who haven’t been charged at all,” Daley said.

Nearly 1,500 of the arrests involved people with pending criminal charges, and 604 others were listed as “immigration violators” — a broad category that includes people with no criminal cases in the U.S. but who overstayed visas, re-entered the country after deportation, or are wanted for crimes elsewhere.

One big hotspot for arrests: the Marion County Jail. ICE made 960 arrests there — more than one out of every four in the state — including nearly 300 arrests in just the first half of this year.

Still, Daley told WISH-TV he doesn’t think the Marion County Sheriff’s Office has increased its cooperation with ICE. The sheriff’s office, he pointed out, is not part of a formal immigration enforcement program known as 287(g).

Governor Mike Braun, speaking to reporters last week, said the numbers should get attention.

“If that data is correct, I’d say that should raise eyebrows,” Braun said. “I’ve been on record: the worst first. And if you’re involving others, you’re probably not doing a good enough job figuring out who you’re dealing with.”