This week a federal court blocked the state’s investigation of an Indiana immigrant support organization.
Attorney General Todd Rokita sent Exodus Refugee Immigration a civil investigation demand (CID) last September. It sought information from Exodus about its clients, partners and donors through claims of potential labor-trafficking and interference with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Exodus has offices in Indianapolis and Bloomington. The non-profit was founded to support refugees and asylees. Assistance includes housing, employment services and legal aid.
The new ruling protects Exodus from having to comply with the investigation while the lawsuit continues in court.
U.S. Court Southern District of Indiana Judge Tanya Walton Pratt denied Rokita’s motion to dismiss the preliminary injunction Exodus requested. In the same ruling she granted Exodus the injunction.
“The Court determines that Exodus has a strong likelihood of success on its claims, has no adequate remedy at law, and faces irreparable harm if Rokita is not enjoined,” Watson said in the decision.
The attorney general has 30 days to appeal the ruling. The office said it is reviewing its options.
Exodus CEO Cole Varga called the ruling welcome news.
“There haven’t been a whole lot of wins in immigration in the last year and a half. So this felt especially good,” Varga said.
The ACLU of Indiana provided Exodus with legal representation and argued the attorney general’s investigation violates the organization's first amendment rights.
ACLU of Indiana senior staff attorney Stevie Pactor said the block is a victory.
“This is exactly what the government attempted to do to the NAACP back in the ‘60s, and where this case law comes from. Right, you can’t use these sorts of investigatory tools to target organizations because you disagree with their message,” Pactor said.
The case is the latest setback for Rokita and his use of CIDs to clamp down on immigration.
Last month the Indiana Court of Appeals dismissed a CID the attorney general issued to manufacturing company Berry Global Inc. and the Haitian Center of Evansville to investigate human trafficking. The three-judge panel’s opinion said the demands made by the attorney general included no specific evidence to make the investigative demands valid.
“No one is saying that the government cannot lawfully pursue its purposes, but there is a line, and this CID and the CIDs like it very clearly cross that line,” Pactor said. “And I think that message has been made abundantly clear in the court’s very thorough decision in this preliminary injunction, and also in the Indiana Court of Appeals decision in the Berry Global case.”
Despite the success in court, Varga said the public investigation hurt the organization’s reputation.
“We hope this preliminary injunction turns the light back on and lets everyone know that we’re open,” Varga said. “We’ve done nothing warranting this behavior from the attorney general. It’s clearly malicious targeting of our agency and the folks that we serve.”
The attorney general’s office did not provide further comment for this story.
Pactor said the next step will be to file a motion to dismiss the case.
Contact WFYI All Things Considered newscaster and reporter Samantha Horton at shorton@wfyi.org or on Signal at SamHorton.05
