Judge issues blow to Rokita’s labor trafficking inquiry

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A Vanderburgh Superior Court judge has denied Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s petition to enforce civil investigative demands against the Haitian Center of Evansville and Amcor after both entities argued there was no reason for the Attorney General’s Office to seek information from them related to possible labor trafficking.
In his order, Judge Robert Pigman wrote that Rokita’s investigative demands did not meet the statutory standard of reasonable cause and relevancy.
“There simply is not sufficient facts to infer reasonable cause exists to believe the Petitioners have relevant information to an investigation for labor trafficking,” Pigman wrote.
The ruling also raises questions about similar demands Rokita’s office has made against at least six other organizations across the state as part of the attorney general’s immigration-related inquiry.
Those organizations, which were not parties to the Vanderburgh County action, are the Cass County Health Department in Logansport, Logansport Community School Corp., Tent Partnership for Refugees in New York, God is Good Christian ministry in Evansville, the Jackson County Industrial Development Corp. in Seymour and Tyson Foods in Logansport.
Rokita’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how the attorney general might proceed.
Rokita has previously explained his inquiry by saying an influx of undocumented immigrants has caused “unneeded stress on law enforcement, local hospitals and health care facilities, and our housing and labor markets. It also raises serious questions about how these individuals’ arrival in Indiana is being facilitated.”
The Haitian Center, a refugee assistance organization based in Evansville, and Amcor, a packaging company formerly known as Berry Global in Evansville, strongly objected to Rokita’s investigative demands since they were first issued in November.
“The Haitian Center is relieved that Judge Pigman has issued a well-reasoned decision recognizing that the AG had no reasonable cause to believe that the center was engaged in any conduct which deserved investigation,” Pat Shoulders, an Evansville attorney representing the Haitian Center, told The Lawyer. “The center will continue to lawfully render much needed services hopefully free from political interference. ”
In July, Shoulders told The Lawyer that Rokita’s inquiry “has little to do with illegal immigration and everything to do with the political aspirations of the attorney general.”
The civil investigative demand received by the Haitian Center said the Attorney General’s Office has “reasonable cause to believe that you may be in possession, custody or control of documentary materials or may have knowledge of facts that are relevant to an investigation being conducted concerning human labor trafficking and indecent nuisances.”