If passed, HB 1531 will require local governments and Indiana businesses to reallocate resources to ineffective immigration detention and surveillance programs. The bill increases pressure on local sheriffs to hold people in custody up to two days solely at the request of federal immigration enforcement. These requests from the federal government are oftentimes incomplete and sometimes erroneous. The bill would also require all employers in Indiana to use the ineffective federal eVerify program or a process approved as an industry best practice by the Indiana Attorney General.
Both of these provisions extend state control over local decision making and private business processes in unnecessary and inappropriate ways. The ACLU of Indiana opposes this bill because we think immigration enforcement is a federal matter and because the bill is a one-size-fits-all mandate that usurps local control.
