WASHINGTON—After years of legal wrangling, the city of East Chicago, Ind., Common Council and its mayor have decided to repeal its “welcoming city” ordinance which enacted sanctuary policies and prohibited local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities.
The Immigration Reform Law Institute (IRLI) had sued the city in 2018 on behalf of two residents, arguing that the ordinance violates both the U.S. Constitution and state law.
In 2011, IRLI attorneys had helped write Indiana’s statewide ban on sanctuary jurisdictions, which requires local law enforcement to cooperate with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita had recently filed a suit against the city alleging that the ordinance was a violation of state law. In response to East Chicago’s decision to repeal, Rokita’s office dismissed the suit.
“This is a great win in what has been a long, challenging process,” said Dale L. Wilcox, executive director and general counsel of IRLI. “The East Chicago ordinance was a clear violation of state law, and a disservice to residents of the city. More state legislatures need to follow Indiana’s example and rid their states of these destructive policies.”
The ordinance forbade local officials from informing federal officers, even when asked, when aliens in local jails will be released, and blocked federal officers from entering local jails to assume custody of criminal aliens. By interfering with federal enforcement of immigration laws in these and other ways, IRLI had claimed the ordinance violated the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.
Just as outrageously, to protect illegal aliens – and aliens lawfully present – suspected of committing crimes, the ordinance required police to avoid arresting crime suspects who might get deported as a result. This provision discriminated against those who have no deportation risk – that is, Americans – in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution.
