Monroe County Sheriff sues AG Rokita over ICE compliance law

Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté has sued Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita over a new law requiring local law enforcement to comply with ICE requests, WRTV learned on Thursday. Marté, who filed the complaint on Wednesday, is requesting relief from the law. SEA 76 requires local law enforcement agencies to detain individuals subject to federal immigration detainers. It was signed into law on March 5. In the lawsuit, Marté argues that the law violates the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution by holding people without a judicial warrant or probable cause of committing a crime. Sheriff Marté claims that he cannot order his officers to comply with SEA 76 without violating his oath to protect and uphold the constitution and is exposing the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office to “significant civil liability” from suits from those whose rights were violated by the detentions. According to the lawsuit, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office has already adopted a policy that honors immigration detainer requests if they are accompanied by a judicial warrant. In a statement to WRTV, Rokita said, “Sheriff Marté took an oath to uphold the laws of Indiana and the United States. Hoosiers deserve sheriffs who enforce the law fully and without selective carve-outs that put politics ahead of safety. Our office will vigorously defend the FAIRNESS Act, and we will use every tool provided by the FAIRNESS Act to ensure no Indiana county becomes a safe haven for illegal immigration.” Attorney General Rokita has an ongoing lawsuit against the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Ruben Marté in regards to the county’s immigration detention policy. __