Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R) announced his office submission lawsuit Charges against the St. Joseph Parish Police Department and Sheriff William Redman (d) for refusing to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
At a press conference Friday, Rokita said he had “filed a lawsuit against St. Joseph County Sheriff Redman and his department over their persistent practice of refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.” .
“Sherif Redman is part of the problem.”
“This includes refusing to properly notify Ice of illegal alien releases and also refusing to respect Ice detainees,” Rokita continued. “This deliberate decision not to cooperate with federal immigration authorities is giving safe harbor to criminal aliens who need to be removed from our country and this county.”
“As your attorney general, I simply refuse to see lawlessness occur from law enforcement officials,” he declared.
He argued that the department's refusal to comply with ice detainers would act like a “magnet” and attract more criminal illegal aliens to the area.
The lawsuit seeks to “force compliance” with an Indiana law that requires local governments to cooperate with federal immigration law enforcement.
The AG pledged to “eliminate all sanctuary jurisdiction throughout the state of Indiana.”
ICE designated Redman's department as a “non-cooperative law enforcement agency” last year, Rokita's complaint alleges. Between March and September 2024, SJCPD ignored nine ICE detainer requests.
In October, Rokita sent Redman a letter asking about potential violations of state law for refusing to cooperate with Ice.
According to the lawsuit, Redman's office responded nearly a month later, claiming the department complied with Indiana law. However, this response reportedly did not address detainees' requests, which were ignored.
Rokita sent a second letter in December, but reportedly never received a response from Redman.
SJCPD responded to the AG's lawsuit in a social media post.
“The Indiana Attorney General has decided to hold another press conference before making us aware of the lawsuit. As of this posting, we have not even received a copy of the lawsuit,” the statement read. “He stated that he spoke with Sheriff Redman multiple times.
“He stated that we do not cooperate with Ice. This is false. We communicate with Ice on a regular basis. When the prison receives a detention on Ice or a request from Ice, staff , immediately notify immigration officials when the individual is released on criminal charges,'' the statement added.
“Sherif Redman is part of the problem. A big part. And we will hold him accountable,” Rokita wrote. post x.
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