Who are Indiana's immigrant communities? Some could be impacted by policy change

Federal immigration policy is changing rapidly under newly-elected President Donald J. Trump’s direction. He campaigned on a platform of ramping up deportations and since taking office, he has issued executive orders and expanded federal immigration enforcement.

The changes to immigration policy, and related actions by state leaders, are bringing the role of immigrants in communities like Indianapolis, and across the state, into sharper focus.

Here’s what we know about the immigrants living here whose lives could be impacted by these policy changes.

Indiana’s immigration landscape

The U.S. immigration system is complex, with multiple immigration statuses and various federal agencies overseeing immigration enforcement. That makes data on Indiana’s immigrant population difficult to track, as it is dispersed across the federal bureaucracy. Not all of the available public data is current.

Most Hoosiers are U.S. citizens

The vast majority of people living in Indiana are U.S. citizens. The U.S. Census Bureau categorizes citizens in a number of different ways, but altogether, the agency estimates that only about 3.7% of Indiana’s residents aren’t citizens. In Marion County, it’s about 9% of people.

Noncitizens may or may not have legal authorization to be in the country. Some may be on a pathway to citizenship, while others have temporary protections. Immigration status can be complicated, and some immigrants can hold more than one status.

Refugees and asylum seekers

Refugees are individuals recognized by the U.S. government as having a humanitarian concern. To qualify, they must demonstrate that they were persecuted or have a reasonable fear of persecution related to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group, such as LGBTQ people. The U.S. currently designates Afghan nationals as a refugee group of special consideration.

To apply for refugee status, a person must be outside the U.S. and must not have “firmly” resettled in another country.

Asylum seekers must meet the same qualifications as refugees, but they can only apply for asylum if they are already in the U.S.

Trump has tried to end the U.S. refugee resettlement program but a federal judge recently halted it. This has affected a refugee resettlement organization in Indiana.

Lawful permanent residents

Lawful permanent residents have what’s commonly referred to as a green card. They are eligible to live and work in the U.S. and have certain other rights and privileges. If they meet specific requirements, they can also apply for citizenship. Several “classes” of people can qualify for this status.

People without legal status

Some immigrants are not on a pathway to citizenship and do not have permanent or temporary protections. Federal law classifies these individuals as "unauthorized." But that’s not a complete picture.

In April 2024, the Office of Homeland Security Statistics estimated nearly 11 million immigrants did not have legal status in 2022, the most recent year of available data.

Trump has said he wants his immigration policies to focus on deporting violent offenders in this group, but law-abiding residents without legal status are still fearful they could be arrested.

Children growing up in the U.S.

Many children show up at the U.S. border seeking an opportunity to live in the country. While many of these children show up with their families, others arrive alone. The federal government considers these minors “unaccompanied alien children.”

There have been more than 1,800 unaccompanied minors placed in Indiana in each of the past few years, according to the federal data.

Last year, the federal Unaccompanied Alien Children Bureau — part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — received nearly 100,000 referrals.

Some of these children flee conflict zones or unsafe conditions in their home countries. Others are victims of human trafficking. Under the U.S system, these children do not have legal status or the right to counsel in immigration court. The Office of Refugee Resettlement is required by law to provide food, shelter, and medical care before placing them with sponsors while their cases are processed.

Children who are immigrants still have some rights, including the right to an education.

A recent memo from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directs the agency to increase its focus on unaccompanied minors.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals

Some immigrants exist in a legal gray area. They may have temporary protections provided by different federal authorities or policies, giving them conditional permission to legally reside in the country. However, federal agencies may still consider them as not having immigration status. If these protections are amended or they do not maintain the required conditions, these immigrants’ permission to reside in the U.S. could be revoked.

One of these programs is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. These immigrants are sometimes referred to as “Dreamers.” The program was established by former President Barack Obama in June 2012. It provides two-year protections to people who arrived in the U.S. as children — who, at the time, didn’t have a legal status, were under the age of 31, and met certain educational requirements as they aged. The two-year protection can be renewed so long as the person maintains eligibility and re-applies.

There are more than 7,600 DACA recipients across the state.

Today, about 537,730 people have DACA protections. Under the program’s original rules, an estimated 1.16 million people were eligible in 2023. Many Dreamers have lived, studied, and worked in the U.S. for most of their lives. However, the program has faced ongoing legal challenges and its long-term future remains uncertain.

Other temporary protections

Temporary protections do exist for some immigrants, including those in Indiana. But public state or local data is not immediately available.

Trump signed several immigration-related executive orders, including one that ended two of these programs on his first day in office. These immigrants are still considered “unauthorized” by the federal government and may be some of the first people at risk of detainment or deportation proceedings.

Former President Joe Biden’s administration created an app called CBP One for people to request asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. From January 2023 through December 2024, over 936,500 people used the app to schedule appointments.

Biden also created CHNV, a parole process that afforded two-year protections for eligible people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. It granted protections for about 531,690 people from the four countries.

The Secretary of Homeland Security also has the ability to grant Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, to people from countries for humanitarian reasons under the Immigration Act of 1990. The protection can be extended by the Secretary for either 6, 12, or 18 months. There are currently 17 areas with TPS designations.

But some of these will expire soon.

At the end of the Biden administration, former Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas extended TPS for several countries. Venezuela has two separate designations, from 2021 and 2023. On February 1, newly-confirmed Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem ended the 2023 TPS designation, which will end protections for 348,202 people from Venezuela on April 7. The 2021 designation is currently still set to expire in September for an additional 250,000 people.

And on February 20, Noem rescinded the Biden Administration’s extension of Haiti’s TPS designation into 2026. Now, the designation will expire on August 3, 2025.

One other form of temporary protection is granted by the president. Called Deferred Enforced Departure, eligibility is set by the president and can be extended by DHS. People living in the US under DED do not have an immigration status but they aren’t subject to removal. People currently covered under DED include Palestinians and people from Lebanon and Liberia. Certain people from Hong Kong were protected through Feb. 5, but they are still listed as protected on USCIS’s website.

Indiana is home to communities of people born in countries across the globe.

Contact data journalist Zak Cassel at zcassel@wfyi.org.