AG Todd Rokita investigating illegal immigrant surge, potential labor trafficking in 3 Indiana cities
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Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita has opened immigration-related investigations into several nonprofits, government agencies and businesses, with the office alleging that an influx of migrants has created housing and possible labor trafficking issues in Evansville, Seymour and Logansport.
Entities receiving civil investigative demands from the attorney general are: Evansville-based Berry Global Group Inc., which is Indiana’s sixth largest public company in terms of revenue; the Cass County Health Department in Logansport; Logansport Community School Corp.; Tent Partnership for Refugees, a New York City-based nonprofit founded by the CEO of Chobani Yogurt that pairs migrants with available jobs; God is Good, a Christian ministry in Evansville that assists immigrants and refugees; and the Jackson County Industrial Development Corp. in Seymour.
The Logansport school district, Berry Global, Tent Partnership, God is Good Foundation and Jackson County Industrial Development Corp. did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday from Indiana Lawyer.
“Illegal immigration caused by ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris’ perversion and misapplication of federal law has made every state a border state and imposed unsustainable costs on Logansport and other cities across the nation,” Rokita said in a news release. “It has also created serious sex and labor trafficking risks in all communities. I’m creatively trying to use every tool in the law to stop the Left’s intentional destruction of Indiana.”
Rokita announced the office is investigating coordinated efforts among international and local nonprofit “refugee resettlement” organizations and employers to bring large numbers of migrants to Indiana communities.
He said the “rapid growth of alien populations in certain communities has caused overcrowding in housing facilities as multiple families and sometimes dozens of individuals reportedly share space in structures intended to be single-family dwellings. It also has raised concerns about potential labor trafficking.”
Rokita’s office said it is conducting these investigations pursuant to its authority under Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and indecent nuisance statute.
“The influx of these illegal aliens, which are coming from over 150 different countries, have strained our schools and the children of taxpayers are suffering as a result. It has caused unneeded stress on law enforcement, local hospitals and healthcare facilities, and our housing and labor markets,” Rokita said in the release. It also raises serious questions about how these individuals’ arrival in Indiana is being facilitated.”
Related to Friday’s announcement, Rokita’s office also has targeted “sanctuary city ordinances” in several Indiana cities and counties, with West Lafayette, East Chicago and Garyall repealing their ordinances.
The Herald-Times reported in August that Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté said his office would defend the county’s law on undocumented immigrants.
“My office takes seriously our obligation to enforce the laws while respecting everyone’s constitutional rights. Our Standard Operating Procedure does exactly that,” Marté said in a news release.