Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita threatens to sue Gary, East Chicago, over ‘welcoming city’ ordinances – NBC Chicago

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita on Friday threatened legal action against the cities of Gary and East Chicago, as well as two other local governments, over so-called “sanctuary city” policies.

In a news release, Rokita said he sent letters to officials in East Chicago, Gary, West Lafayette and Monroe County, urging them to reverse “local policies that enable illegal immigration.” If local governments do not comply, they will “face swift legal consequences” starting July 1, Rokita warned.

“The flood of illegal immigrants entering the United States is a problem that harms us all,” the state attorney general said in part of the statement. “Those paying the price for this lawlessness are Hoosier taxpayers, who must bear increased costs for health care, education and other services used by illegal immigrants. »

Rokita said a “sanctuary city” is a “local unit of government that has adopted a policy of willfully and intentionally ignoring federal law and failing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.”

Indiana lawmakers earlier this year passed Senate Bill 181, which sought to amend existing state law to authorize the attorney general to bring suit against any college, university or unit of government Indiana local government not enforcing state laws banning sanctuary cities, according to Indiana Senate Republicans.

In 2011, the Indiana General Assembly passed a law prohibiting government entities from limiting or restricting the actions of other agencies inquiring about a person’s citizenship or immigration status.

The Indiana Court of Appeals in August 2022 dismissed a lawsuit challenging the validity of East Chicago’s “Welcoming City” ordinance, saying the plaintiffs – who do not reside in the city – “do not had no standing to challenge the order,” according to a previous report in the Times of Northwest Indiana.

A month earlier, the Indiana Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit claiming that Gary’s policy of prioritizing local public safety needs and protecting the rights of immigrants illegally violated Indiana’s 2011 ban on sanctuary cities, the newspaper reported.

In 2017, a number of cities across the United States passed “welcoming cities” ordinances in opposition to then-President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Such orders direct officials not to provide information about a person’s immigration status to federal immigration authorities.