Rokita Sues IPS for ‘Thwarting’ Federal Immigration Enforcement
(Office of Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita)
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is suing Indianapolis Public Schools over policies he says have made it difficult for ICE to do its job.
Rokita filed the lawsuit against IPS on Thursday in Marion County. The suit mentions three school policies in particular that restrict who is allowed on school campuses and prohibit employees from assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and sharing details about students.
Rokita said these policies from IPS “hamstring ICE’s ability to keep our schools safe from criminal illegal aliens.”
“These kind of sanctuary policies are bad in any context and they are especially troubling if they’re in schools,” Rokita said in a video posted to social media on Thursday. “Schools across the country have sometimes been infiltrated by criminal illegal aliens.”
According to Rokita, an illegal immigrant father voluntarily decided to self-deport and asked for his child to come with him earlier this year. IPS staff reportedly refused to hand the child over to ICE agents, defying the state’s anti-sanctuary law.
“Indiana’s anti-sanctuary law prohibits local government entities from restricting their cooperation with federal immigration authorities like ICE and from interfering with federal immigration enforcement,” Rokita explained.
IPS has responded to the lawsuit, calling it a “silly litigation.” They said they are “deeply offended” by the Attorney General’s “dehumanizing” language by referring to students and families as “aliens”.
IPS maintains that they will not allow ICE action on school grounds without a judicial warrant. Rokita argues that their policies are “more restrictive” than federal law.
“We warned IPS to stop these sanctuary policies or face the consequences in court…they didn’t listen,” said Rokita.
The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) is serving as special counsel in this case. Chad Wolf is Executive Vice President of the AFPI and former Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security during President Trump’s first term. Wolf said they are backing Indiana in this effort because they “believe in protecting communities and our kids.”
“When schools like IPS defy the law, they’re not just ignoring ICE, they’re inviting risk that will hurt families from increase in crime to broken trust,” said Wolf.
