INDIANAPOLIS — 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.
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.
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