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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe State of Indiana has been granted leave to intervene in a Lake County lawsuit challenging an East Chicago city ordinance that allegedly violates Indiana’s law barring sanctuary cities.
Special Judge Thomas P. Hallett granted the state’s motion to intervene in Greg Serbon, et al. v. City of East Chicago, et al., 45D03-1805-PL-00045, on Tuesday. The case, brought by the Terre Haute-based Bopp Law Firm, alleges sections of an East Chicago city ordinance are in direct violation of Indiana Code section 5-2-18.2, which requires local governments to cooperate with federal immigration directives.
The suit takes aim at East Chicago Ordinance 17-0010 sections 3, 6, 9(c) and 10. Each of those sections limit local law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration officials, with Section 6(a) holding that, “No agency or agent shall be permitted to accept requests by ICE or other agencies to support or assist in any capacity with immigration enforcement operations, including but not limited to requests to provide information on persons who may be the subject of immigration enforcement operations … . In the event an agent receives a request to support or assist in an immigration enforcement operation, he or she shall report the request to his or her supervisor, who shall decline the request and document the declination in an interoffice memorandum to the agency director through the chain of command.”
Conversely, Chapter 18.2 of the Indiana Code holds, among other things, that “[a] governmental body … may not enact or implement … a policy that prohibits or in any way restricts … a law enforcement officer from taking the following actions with regard to information of the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of an individual: (1) Communicating or cooperating with federal officials.”
Attorney Jim Bopp of the Bopp Law Firm said in a Friday statement that the East Chicago ordinance contravenes Chapter 18.2 and enables undocumented immigrants “to dodge immigration officials and remain in the community.”
In its motion to intervene, the state noted it was allowed to intervene in a nearly identical case against Gary without objection. The East Chicago defendants likewise did not object to the state’s motion to intervene.
“We welcome the State of Indiana to the lawsuit against the City of East Chicago’s sanctuary city ordinance and look forward to working with it to enforce Indiana’s anti-sanctuary city law,” Bopp said in a statement. “Indiana has special interests in protecting the public and defending its laws that are furthered by the State’s intervention. We are grateful to Attorney General (Curtis) Hill for intervening to protect those interests.”
Bopp further noted that he has moved for summary judgment on behalf of the plaintiffs and expects the state to follow suit. The complaint, brought under the name of two Lake County residents, seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against the East Chicago ordinances.
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