Braun orders police to cooperate with immigration authorities — which they already must do

Gov. Mike Braun said he’s ordering all state and federal law enforcement agencies to do what the Trump administration asks to help deport undocumented immigrants.

It’s not clear if Braun’s executive order does anything new on that issue, as Indiana law already requires law enforcement to cooperate with federal authorities.

Braun said the federal directive he’s received is focused on identifying undocumented immigrants who’ve committed crimes.

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Braun was asked if his executive order will involve law enforcement going into schools and churches. He said the Trump administration isn’t telling him to do that.

“Don’t extrapolate it into more than what we’ve seen here because it’s going to take a good while for this to take hold,” Braun said.
 

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Indiana law already bans local governments from refusing to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Attorney General Todd Rokita has filed multiple lawsuits against local governments and law enforcement agencies in the last year that he says aren’t complying with that law.

Braun’s executive order also said the Indiana National Guard will cooperate with requests related to immigration “to the fullest extent permitted by law.”

The Indiana National Guard is currently deployed to the southern U.S. border, to assist states with border security. Braun said he’ll continue that deployment.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.