Measure would require police to notify federal authorities about suspected undocumented immigrants

Indiana law enforcement would be required to send notice to federal immigration officials if they have probable cause to believe someone they arrested is an undocumented immigrant. That’s under a bill approved by a House committee Thursday.

One critic of the measure called it a “green light for racial profiling.”

Rep. Garrett Bascom (R-Lawrenceburg) said his bill, HB 1393, would not involve pulling people off the street to check their immigration status. He said police would only determine probable cause that someone is an undocumented immigrant after they’ve been arrested for a felony or misdemeanor.

“The determination is made primarily on the lack of the identification, when the officer is checking that after the misdemeanor or felony,” Bascom said.

READ MORE: Trump administration strips schools, churches of immigration enforcement protections
 

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But not everyone always has full documentation on them. And advocate Carolina Castoreno said there’s often a gap for people here with legal status to receive necessary documents.

“We can say all we want that it is not based on race, but we know that the majority of people in this country associate undocumented status with people who look like me and who are darker,” Castoreno said.

The bill is headed for the full House.
 

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