Gary rescinds welcome ordinance amid threats from AG Rokita

Three of the four municipalities threatened with legal action by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita have rolled back their local immigration policies. (Photo/Marilyn Odendahl)

By Marilyn Odendahl
Citizen of Indiana
August 16, 2024

The Gary Common Council repealed the city’s welcome ordinance last week, becoming the third municipality to change or rescind its immigration policy after being threatened with a lawsuit by Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita.

The city’s 2017 ordinance, which was meant to encourage immigrants in the community to call the police if they needed help, regardless of their immigration status, had already withstood a legal challenge brought by private citizens. However, acting under new authority granted to the attorney general by Indiana lawmakers in an amendment to Indiana’s sanctuary cities law, Rokita gave Gary until Aug. 6 to revoke the ordinance.

The Common Council had already amended the ordinance in July, but the attorney general’s office said the amendment wasn’t enough to bring the policy into compliance, so the council repealed the welcome ordinance on Aug. 5. According to the Chicago Tribune, the council did not discuss the issue, but instead just took the vote for the repeal, which passed 7-0, with two council members absent.

Rokita issued a statement after the repeal, saying the vote was “a victory for law-abiding Hoosiers and legal immigrants.”

City and council officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In May, Rokita issued warnings to the cities of Gary and East Chicago, the West Lafayette Police Department and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office that their ordinances and policies regarding the treatment of immigrants violate Indiana’s sanctuary city law. The attorney general was preparing to exercise new enforcement authority given to him in Senate Bill 181, which amended the sanctuary city law.

Democratic lawmakers representing the four municipalities condemned Rokita’s actions. In a joint statement, they said his threats of litigation were “simply the latest ploy by our attorney general to take advantage of Hoosiers, threaten minority groups and misrepresent our communities for his own political gain.”

Although the amended sanctuary city law did not go into effect until July 1, West Lafayette revised its police policy, which advised local law enforcement not to detain immigrants who had been released from local custody, even if they were requested by federal immigration authorities. East Chicago repealed its welcome ordinance in July after the attorney general’s office filed a lawsuit.

The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office has also been sued for having a detention policy similar to West Lafayette’s. A special judge has been appointed to preside over the case since all Monroe County judges have recused themselves, and the sheriff has until Sept. 5 to file a response to the attorney general’s complaint.

Dwight Adams, an editor and writer based in Indianapolis, edited this article. He has bI was a content editor, copy editor and digital producer at The Indianapolis Star and IndyStar.com and a planner for other papers including the Louisville Courier Journal.

The Indiana Citizen is a non-partisan, nonprofit platform dedicated to increasing the number of informed and engaged Hoosier citizens. We are operated by the Indiana Citizen Education Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity. For questions about the story, contact Marilyn Odendahl at [email protected].