The Gary Common Council repealed its “welcoming city” ordinance earlier this month in response to Attorney General Todd Rokita’s letter warning of a lawsuit in response to the ordinance.
The Gary Common Council voted 7-0, with two members absent, on Aug. 5 to repeal Ordinance 9100 and an ordinance that amended Ordinance 9100, passed in June, without discussion. Council president Tai Adkins did not respond to requests for comment.
In 2017, the Gary Common Council voted 6-3 in favor of the ordinance, which required that any investigation by city officials into a person’s immigration status be court-ordered and held that city resources would not be used to enforce federal immigration law.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita speaks, Nov. 8, 2022, in Schererville. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
Karen Freeman-Wilson, who was the city’s mayor at the time, backed the legislation, which was drafted in response to a Trump administration crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
Gary’s ordinance prompted a lawsuit from four Indiana residents who claimed that it violated a 2011 Indiana law banning so-called “sanctuary cities,” which prohibits cities and other local governments from refusing to communicate or cooperate with federal immigration authorities in order to shield people who have entered the country without legal permission.
The lawsuit was dismissed in 2022 after the Indiana Supreme Court ruled the plaintiffs had not suffered an injury and thus had no standing to sue. Later the same year, the state appellate court held that two plaintiffs who challenged a similar East Chicago ordinance also lacked legal standing.
Senate Bill 181, a revival of a bill that failed in 2023, was authored by Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford in response to the litigation. The bill enabled Rokita, a Munster native, to bring lawsuits aimed at forcing governmental entities and educational institutions to comply with federal immigration authorities.
Gov. Eric Holcomb signed the bill into law in March, which went into effect July 1.
In a Thursday news release, Rokita credited the “blunt message” he sent to officials in Gary, East Chicago, the West Lafayette Police Department and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department. The MCSD is the only remaining agency that hasn’t rescinded the policy.
State Sen. Rodney Pol, D-Chesterton, an attorney who represents the city of Gary, said he was opposed to Senate Bill 181.
Pol said it was “ironic” that within one legislative session the legislature approved a bill that allowed Rokita to sue the city of Gary while it allowed another bill that would end a lawsuit the city of Gary filed against gun manufacturers.
“I think it’s incredibly unfair for the city of Gary,” Pol said. “We’re taking away a case that’s determined to be valid and we’re allowing the attorney general to move forward with these lawsuits.”
The East Chicago Common Council repealed its welcoming cities ordinance in July after Rokita filed a lawsuit against the council and city. After the council repealed the ordinance, Rokita dropped the lawsuit.
The council passed the ordinance in 2017 to let the community know they could feel safe in East Chicago “regardless of any of the rhetoric following the 2016 election,” according to the repealed ordinance.
But, the council decided to repeal the ordinance after determining that it is “not effective or necessary for the protection of the rights of residents and visitors nor to ensure the health and safety of all residents and visitors,” according to the repealed ordinance.
“The City of East Chicago remains committed to upholding the Constitution of the State of Indiana and the United States, to upholding the laws of the State of indiana, protecting the rights of its residents and visitors, and to ensuring the health and safety of all residents and visitors,” according to the repealed ordinance.
