No changes expected following West Lafayette immigration policy adjustment

When Indiana’s attorney general threatened to sue four cities over their sanctuary immigration policies last May, the request was met with some resistance. But when West Lafayette – which was among the initial cities threatened – adjusted its police code accordingly, the end result was practically insignificant.

President Donald Trump has led off his second administration by keeping campaign promises with heavy illegal immigration crackdowns. The Justice Department issued a memo last Wednesday threatening to prosecute state and local officials who refuse to comply with immigration-related directives.

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Trump is expected to continue policies from his first administration by withholding funding from sanctuary cities. Sanctuary cities, such as Chicago, limit or prohibit the use of city resources to cooperate with federal immigration law enforcement. These cities often refuse to share information with federal officials to reduce immigrants’ fear of deportation.

Indiana passed a sanctuary city ban in 2011, but some cities still chose to adopt sanctuary policies. With the passage of Senate Enrolled Act 181 in early 2024, Indiana’s attorney general was given the power to bring suit against these cities and enforce the ban.

In late May, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, recently reelected to a second term, sent letters to four municipalities – East Chicago, Gary, West Lafayette and Monroe County (including Bloomington) – demanding they revoke any sanctuary policies or face legal action.

“I believe this bill is unnecessary and unproductive for the State’s Attorney General to insert himself in this national crisis,” said Gary Mayor Eddie Melton when the bill was first introduced, the Post-Tribune reported. Gary considered itself to be a “welcoming city” and initially pushed back against Rokita’s threat. In August, Gary complied and overturned its welcoming ordinance.

The issue Rokita took with West Lafayette’s policy came from one paragraph in the police code centered around immigration detainers.

A federal immigration detainer is a formal request from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold a detained person beyond their scheduled release until ICE can take custody of them. Immigration detainers are often administered when someone who is suspected of breaking immigration laws is booked into jail for other minor infractions.

“Earlier (in 2024), our office asked the West Lafayette Police Department to rescind policy section 413.7.1, which said they would not hold someone based solely on an immigration detainer notice. After we had constructive conversations with them, they were very cooperative and made changes to their policy, which is now consistent with state law,” said Josh DeFonce, the Media Director at the Office of the Attorney General.

The original text of policy section 413.7.1 stated that “no individual should be held based solely on a federal immigration detainer” unless the person has been charged with a federal crime or the detainer is “accompanied by a warrant, affidavit of probable cause or removal order.”

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Essentially, the original code requested an accompanying reason to hold the suspected person beyond just the immigration detainer.

Now-retired West Lafayette Police Chief Troy Harris wrote back to the attorney general’s office with a new proposed code: “Upon receipt of a completed (immigration detainer) … officers shall transport the detainee to the Tippecanoe County Jail to be detained.”

This change was deemed satisfactory.

Another factor in the conversations was the company Lexipol, said West Lafayette City Attorney Eric Burns. Lexipol provides training and manuals to many public safety services across the country. West Lafayette’s original insufficient immigration detainer policy was adopted from Lexipol.

Harris informed Lexipol of the error in their code, which was used by hundreds of police departments in the state. Monroe County tried to stand by Lexipol’s code, but the attorney general’s office recommended West Lafayette’s new language instead, according to an email chain obtained by the Exponent.

Despite the adjustment in the code, not much changed in terms of action.

“The changes that were made were sufficient. It was barely anything. It was just a language thing,” Burns said.

West Lafayette already referred anyone foreign-born booked into the jail to ICE and has had the same process since 1997. ICE took 76 inmates into custody from Tippecanoe County Jail last year alone.

“We’re not changing. We’ve been doing this for years,” said Tippecanoe County Sheriff Bob Goldsmith, as reported by the Journal & Courier.

West Lafayette has a strong history of complying with federal officials – Rokita called the city the “least of his worries” when he first sent out the threats. Since the initial letters, Rokita demanded the South Bend and Seymour police departments also change their immigration policies.

While Rokita may have more future requests to support Trump’s immigration policies, West Lafayette appears to be in the clear for now.