A judge will decide next month whether to dismiss Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s lawsuit against St. Joseph County Sheriff Bill Redman over the handling of undocumented immigrants in the jail.
Rokita, a vocal supporter of President Trump, sued Redman and the county in January. He alleges the Democratic sheriff has repeatedly violated state law by not notifying federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement when the jail houses undocumented immigrants. Rokita’s suit also says Redman has illegally refused to hold such immigrants longer at the request of ICE.
Rokita’s suit says these policies or practices violate a state law that prohibits Redman from barring his officers from communicating with federal officials.
But Redman says he’s never done this. He and the county this week filed a brief, written by South Bend attorneys Andrew Jones and Michael Smyth, denying the allegations. They write, “The State telling local law enforcement to assist ICE is effectively no different than ICE telling local law enforcement to do what ICE wants local law enforcement to do.”
St. Joseph Circuit Judge John Broden has set the dispute for a June 18 hearing.
