Indianapolis immigration court future unclear with federal building location on the chopping block

Three federal buildings in Indiana were on the Trump administration’s proposed list of property to be closed or sold. That included one federal building in downtown Indianapolis where an immigration court opened earlier this year.

A non-core property list released Tuesday by the U.S. General Services Administration, GSA, included hundreds of federal buildings across the country.

The GSA’s website where the properties were listed said, “Selling ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces.” It also states that getting rid of the property will save on “costly maintenance.”

The Minton-Capehart Federal Building in Indianapolis houses several agencies, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration.

The building most recently became home to one of the country’s newest immigration courts.

Local immigration advocates and lawyers were excited about the new location. They said it was needed to help address the backlog of cases and to no longer require people to travel to Chicago, where the closest immigration court was previously located.

It is unclear what will happen to the court and other federal agencies located in the building, should it be closed or sold.

In a statement, Representative André Carson (IN-07) said that he is working to stop the destruction created by the Department of Government Efficiency, also known as DOGE.

“DOGE claims these buildings are functionally obsolete and unsuitable for use by the federal workforce. This is untrue,” Carson said. “I serve as a senior member of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, and we publicly reviewed and approved both local facilities to ensure they are in the best condition possible to fulfill their respective agency missions.”

The other two buildings located in Indiana are the Major General Emmett J. Bean Federal Center in Lawrence and the Lee H. Hamilton Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in New Albany.

The Bean Federal Center in Lawrence is one of the largest federal buildings in the country and is where the Department of Defense payroll is handled. It also houses several services for federal employees including day care, occupational health and finance center. The federal building in New Albany handles U.S. bankruptcy cases for southern Indiana.

The Tuesday list has since been taken down with a message that said ‘coming soon.’

Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org.