Indiana AG Todd Rokita has filed a lawsuit accusing St. Joseph County Police and Sheriff Bill Redman of refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.Β
The lawsuit says Redman and his department are not complying with Indiana law, and Rokita says the law states there cannot be policies that restrict communication between local and federal law enforcement.
Rokita says he hopes that Redman and his department will begin to work with them to follow the law, which would save taxpayers the most money and would keep everybody safer.
Rokitaβs team says Indianaβs General Assembly has a law stating that when federal law enforcement wants cooperation, it has to be given, and Redman has restricted his department from complying with federal immigration law.
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The Indiana Attorney General once again decided to hold a press conference before even making us aware of the lawsuit. At the time of this posting, we have yet to even receive a copy of the lawsuit.
He stated he talked to Sheriff Redman multiple times, which is false. The Sheriff has never even spoken to Todd Rokita.
He stated that we do not cooperate with ICE, which is false. We regularly communicate with ICE. When the jail receives a detainer or request from ICE, staff promptly informs immigration officials when that individual will be released on their criminal charges for detainment by ICE.
We also remind the Attorney General that neither state or federal law require the Sheriff or the Jail to enforce federal immigration laws. Sheriff and the department fully comply with all state and federal laws and will now unfortunately have to defend itself in court against the State of Indiana.
We are very proud of our close working relationships with all federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, DEA, ATF, DOJ, ICE, US Marshals and the US Attorney. We will continue to work together to keep St. Joseph County safe.