Immigrants' Rights

The fundamental protections of due process and equal protection belong to every person in this country, regardless of immigration status. No one should lose their basic rights because of where they were born, what language they speak, or what their immigration papers say.

Immigrants have always been an essential part of Indiana’s communities, families, workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods. Yet immigrant Hoosiers are increasingly facing an immigration enforcement system that reaches far beyond the federal government.

Across Indiana, state and local agencies are taking on a greater role in immigration enforcement. Local law enforcement agencies are partnering with ICE, detention capacity is expanding, and new policies are increasing information sharing and surveillance. These systems create serious risks of racial profiling, wrongful detention, family separation, and violations of due process.

The effects reach beyond the people who are arrested or detained. When families fear that a trip to the doctor, a call to police, a day at work, or an interaction with a government agency could expose them or someone they love to immigration enforcement, entire communities are pushed away from institutions that should serve and protect them.

Immigration status does not erase constitutional rights. The government must still respect limits on searches and seizures, provide due process, and follow protections against discrimination. An ICE detainer is not the same as a warrant signed by a judge, and cooperation with federal immigration enforcement does not give state or local officials unlimited authority.

The ACLU of Indiana works in the courts, at the Statehouse, and alongside communities across the state to defend the rights and dignity of immigrants. We challenge unlawful detention and discriminatory enforcement, fight policies that turn local institutions into extensions of the federal immigration system, and make sure people know their rights when confronted by government power.

Every person deserves to live, work, raise a family, seek care, and participate in their community without fear that they will be treated as less deserving of freedom or dignity because of their immigration status.