Indiana House approves bill tying state funding to immigration enforcement
House Bill 1531 passed the full chamber with a 64-26 vote after a brief discussion involving Union City Republican State Rep. J.D. Prescott, whose name is on the bill, and Democrats who sit on the House judiciary committee with him. The bill will now move to the Senate.
The sweeping measure addresses the enforcement of federal immigration law by state and local government, law enforcement and businesses. A section requiring schools to report information on undocumented students was removed before HB 1531 made its way to the House floor. Prescott worked with the attorney general's office to craft the 14-section bill.
It does not impact legal immigration, he said.
Prescott previously said the bill addresses "bad-actor" employers who engage in labor trafficking by hiring people unauthorized to work in the United States over Hoosiers and holds governmental agencies accountable if they restrict the enforcement of immigration orders. It also strengthens Attorney General Todd Rokita's ability to enforce existing Indiana law banning sanctuary cities.
Dozens of people spoke out against the bill on Monday as the House's judiciary committee weighed the measure. Clergy, educators, nonprofit workers and others argued the bill encourages discrimination, racial profiling and contributes to an atmosphere of hostility toward immigrants. After that meeting, some expressed disappointment that the committee still voted to send the measure to the full House for a vote.
More: Bill penalizing cities and law enforcement for not enforcing immigration laws advances
There were no outward displays of approval or disapproval from people watching the House discussion from the hallway on Thursday.
Neither the Indiana Chamber nor the Indiana Sheriffs' Association has taken a favorable position on the bill.
Rep. Maureen Bauer, D-South Bend, told the full House she is concerned about how the bill was crafted and its impact on already-stretched law enforcement agencies. "The enforcement of federal immigration laws is intensive and costly," she said, noting the bill threatens essential funding of local governments for up to a year and even jeopardizes dedicated federal grants.
More: Indianapolis police chief: Immigration sweeps 'not our role'
Rep. Ryan Dvorak, D-South Bend, questioned whether the bill actually penalized businesses for recruiting and hiring undocumented workers or if the civil enforcement mechanism in the bill gives them a slap on the wrist. "It doesn't go after the actual cause of most of the illegal immigration seen in the state of Indiana," he said.
Both are members of the judiciary committee.
Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn, D-Fishers. told the full House she could not support the bill due to its potential unintended consequences. Garcia Wilburn, another judiciary committee member, said the bill threatens Hoosier hospitality and the idea of Indiana as a welcoming state. It needs more work, Garcia Wilburn said.
"We need to proceed with caution, ladies and gentlemen," she said. "When our constituents are communicating to us 'they are against all immigration,' I'm worried about the message this body is sending."
Contact IndyStar investigative reporter Alexandria Burris at aburris@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana House passes immigration bill tying state money to enforcement
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
2 minutes ago
- USA Today
Daily Briefing: Trump calls Putin
Good morning!🙋🏼♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert. Welcome to the Daily Briefing, "Shiny Bug Edition." Trump urged Putin to arrange meeting with Zelenskyy President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday to urge him to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the latest effort to end hostilities between the two warring nations. European leaders to Zelenskyy to Trump to Putin: The call capped a day filled with meetings at the White House among leaders of Ukraine, Great Britian, France, Germany, Italy, Finland, NATO and the European Union. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said Russia attacked the central city of Kremenchuk with drones overnight. What does fierce Hurricane Erin mean for the rest of the season? Hurricane Erin briefly attained Category 5 status over the weekend as it intensified in the Atlantic. Category 5 hurricanes are the rarest of storms, with only a small fraction of all tropical cyclones reaching that intense wind speed of 157 mph or more. But experts told USA TODAY that Erin's Cat 5 status doesn't affect the forecast for the rest of the season overall. The most recent Colorado State University forecast, released earlier in August, calls for a total of eight hurricanes in 2025, of which three are predicted to be major. Here's how ocean temperatures can contribute to storm strength. More news to know now What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here. Texas Democrats return home Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives returned to Austin on Monday after leaving the state two weeks ago in protest of a Republican plan to redraw congressional maps to help the party gain seats in 2026. The protest temporarily blocked House Republicans from having a quorum to move the redistricting plan forward and drew national attention to President Trump's effort to avoid losing the Republican majority in Congress next year. But the lawmakers laid out conditions for their return to work: Republicans must adjourn a first special session in the state House and California must move forward with a retaliatory plan to redraw its own maps in favor of Democrats. Is America done with clean energy? New wind and solar power installations, and the cheap, clean energy they provide to America, may not survive the Trump administration. Building on public concerns and his own dislike of "ugly," "disgusting" wind turbines and "ridiculous" solar farms, President Donald Trump has issued a blizzard of directives and executive orders limiting new solar and wind projects across the county. In at least one case, the administration yanked back an already-issued permit. Instead, the administration is promoting energy production from oil, natural gas and coal, which the Biden administration had made more expensive through regulations Trump is now dismantling. Meanwhile, power demands are at an all-time high and rising. Today's talkers She went viral during Bama Rush. Now she's stepping away. Nearly four years and more than a million followers after her own rush experience, Kylan Darnell has become the face of 'Rush Tok,' the nickname for the corner of the internet documenting sorority recruitment. But behind the brand deals, designer outfits and elaborate costumes, the process was taking a toll. Over the years, she's figured out ways to manage the pressure. But this year, some of the online negativity she faced crossed the line. In an Aug. 11 video, Darnell shared with her followers that she was taking a break from the recruitment process to focus on her mental health. The has video sparked a wider conversation about the intensity of the rush experience at some schools. Photo of the day: Could that be ... Monday Night Football?! Yes. This is real. Monday Night Football returned last night with the Washington Commanders defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 31-17. USA TODAY Sports analyzed what the game means (in Week 2 of the NFL preseason). Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@
Axios
2 minutes ago
- Axios
What to know about Tampa's City Council District 5 race
Thirteen candidates qualified for the Sept. 9 special election to succeed the late Gwen Henderson in District 5 of Tampa's City Council. Why it matters: The winner will represent Downtown Tampa, the Channel District and Ybor City, and voters have only a few weeks to choose from the crowded field. How it works: Only residents of the district may vote in the election. Of about 44,000 active voters, fewer than 6,000 cast ballots in the 2023 municipal race that Henderson won. Early voting runs Sept. 4–7 at these locations: C. Blythe Andrews Jr. Public Library; Fred B. Karl County Center; Robert L. Gilder Elections Service Center; and the West Tampa Branch Library. Mail-in ballots were shipped on Monday to all who requested them. Residents have until Aug. 28 to ask for one. Zoom in: The candidates who qualified are: Audette Bruce, a pastor and former political aide for Republican state Reps. Jackie Toledo, Traci Koster and Berny Jacques Juawana Colbert, a member of the Tampa Affordable Housing Advisory Committee and a former member of the Economic Development Advisory Committee Albert Cooke, a home inspection instructor and a member of the Tampa Citizen Finance and Budget Committee and the Tampa Police Department Chief's Advisory Panel Ariel Amirah Danley, Henderson's daughter and a co-owner of the Black English Bookstore in Tampa Heights Thomas DeGeorge Jr., co-owner of the Crowbar in Ybor City and former volunteer board member for the Ybor Chamber of Commerce and the East Ybor Neighborhood Association Darrell Ashley Dudney, owner of 'Til Death Hat Co. in Ybor City Alison A. Hewitt, a member of Tampa's Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), who served as executive director at the Florida Office of Urban Opportunity Elvis Piggott, a pastor at Triumph Church who ran unsuccessfully for the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners in 2018 and the Hillsborough County School Board in 2024 Thomas Scott, a former Hillsborough commissioner and Tampa City Council member, who served as chairman three times Fran Tate, a member of the East Tampa CRA Community Advisory Committee Carroll "Carrie" West, an Ybor City businessman and president of Tampa Pride Melony Williams, a retired Army lieutenant colonel Naya Young, executive director of the Tampa Heights Junior Civic Association Follow the money: Scott — the veteran council member — leads the field with more than $35,000 raised, followed by Danley with about $24,000, and Colbert with about $21,000, according to the supervisor of elections.
Vox
4 minutes ago
- Vox
Republicans are making a very simple, unforced mistake with Latino voters
is a correspondent at Vox, where he covers the Democratic Party. He joined Vox in 2022 after reporting on national and international politics for the Atlantic's politics, global, and ideas teams, including the role of Latino voters in the 2020 election. A boy holds a flag a peaceful protest and vigil where six workers were taken by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on June 18, 2025, in Pasadena, all the talk of a new, lasting multiracial coalition that helped elect Donald Trump, there are clues that this support may be wavering, particularly among Latino voters. Polls show the president's approval rating with this group has plummeted since the last election, and a third of Latinos who voted for him say they are unlikely to back a Republican candidate in the next one. This collapse happened for a few reasons. Latino voters are not only souring on the president generally, but also on his handling of key issues like immigration and the economy — the very topics that boosted his support with them initially. And curiously, this decline in support for the president isn't translating into a surge for Democrats. Instead, many Latino voters express dissatisfaction with both parties. Today, Explained Understand the world with a daily explainer, plus the most compelling stories of the day. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. This shifting dynamic suggests that both parties have been operating on flawed assumptions over the last few years. Democrats made the mistake of treating Latinos as a monolithic group, focusing on social justice issues while failing to address economic concerns that were pushing these voters toward the GOP. Now, Republicans may be poised to make a similar mistake. They have largely viewed these voters as Republicans-in-waiting, banking on a rightward drift that they assume extends to the most extreme parts of the conservative social agenda. This approach risks alienating a large segment of the Latino electorate. Ultimately, both parties are learning a crucial lesson: Demographics aren't destiny, and they need a more nuanced understanding of this diverse and rapidly changing group of voters. The Democrats' shrinking Latino majority Over the last decade, Trump has remade the American electorate with the help of Latino voters. Back in 2016, his highly racialized and polarizing election victory resulted in one of the worst performances with Latino voters in modern history, winning fewer than three in 10 Hispanic and Latino voters, well below average for Republican candidates. But splits began to develop among Latino communities in the US over the next few years. Working class, non-college educated, and male Latinos, as well as those from Florida and the Southwest, began to drift away from Democrats, particularly at the national level. They were more intrigued by Republican pitches centered around the economy, small business growth, and affordability. At the same time, Democrats were hesitant to admit they had an issue with the Latino population, quibbling over messaging and campaign investments while missing the plot. By the time of the 2020 election, Trump had managed to not just recover his party's losses in 2016, but expand on them, shrinking the Democratic advantage with Latinos by nearly 20 points. Democrats, it turns out, misread Latino voters' priorities and beliefs, gradually losing support from the peak they had from 2012 to 2016 (when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton enjoyed 40-point margins). The party largely approached Latinos as 'voters of color,' marginalized minorities who could be mobilized through appeals to identity, immigrant solidarity, and social justice. For some time, this worked, but Latinos weren't behaving like a monolithic group. Instead, Latinos would fracture and become more dissimilar during this time, with various kinds of evangelicals, border residents, naturalized immigrants, and working class Latinos remaining or becoming more conservative as the Democratic Party and its white, college-educated base became more progressive. Particularly on issues like crime, immigration and the border, and gender roles and identity, the liberal positions that Democrats took — or were portrayed to take — were out of step with the views of many conservative and moderate Latinos from 2020 to 2024. In 2021, the Pew Research Center found that the most liberal, educated, and politically engaged Democrats exerted outsized influence on their party. By the 2024 election, this created an opening for Republicans, as Latino voters expressed greater openness to Trump and the GOP's stances on the economy, immigration, and abortion. By then, their votes had begun to follow some of their beliefs. Republican gains came quickly As Democrats stumbled, Republicans stuck to a different approach: treating Latinos as a new kind of white voter. They doubled down on a hawkish and xenophobic immigration message that seemed to resonate with a large minority of Latinos, spoke of the border as an issue of crime and public safety, and talked nonstop about prices and affordability to exploit the lack of trust in Democrats' stewardship of the economy. Republicans sought to make the old Reagan line that, 'Hispanics are conservatives, [but] they just don't know it yet,' come true by hammering home the idea that Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party were too radical and out of touch. This approach worked. Latinos concerned with immigration and the economy shifted to Republicans, and Trump posted a double-digit boost in support among Latinos, shrinking the Democratic advantage another 20 points. Continued Latino support is not a given An array of data suggest that this advantage is looking more short-lived, largely because Republicans aren't taking into account the nuances of Latino voters. The GOP still did not win a majority of Latinos last year — and much of the boost was from disaffected Democrats or more moderate, disengaged Latinos who don't have the same strong ideological leanings as the primarily white MAGA base. Latino voters are rapidly changing, existing as both a racial minority and an assimilating, formerly immigrant generation. The most recent evidence for this divergence comes from two research projects undertaken by the Democratic-aligned Equis Research group. In the spring, they tracked growing dissatisfaction among Latino voters with Trump's handling of the economy, cost of living, and immigration. Even among what Equis calls 'Biden defectors,' those former Democrats who switched to supporting Trump in 2024, a slight majority were beginning to turn on Trump's economic policies. This dynamic extended to immigration, where an overwhelming majority of all Latino voters thought the administration's actions were 'going too far and targeting the types of immigrants who strengthen our nation.' Some 36 percent of Trump-voting Latinos said the same thing, and a majority of Biden defectors, some 64 percent, felt the same way. This suggests some degree of remaining immigrant solidarity among these swingier, evolving segments of the Latino electorate and disapproval over how mass deportations and aggressive anti-immigrant policies will affect law-abiding immigrants and their families. Nearly two-thirds of Latinos in Equis' polling believe that the Trump administration's actions 'will make it difficult for hardworking Latinos to feel safe, by increasing racial profiling and harassing all Latinos regardless of immigration status.' In other words, there is a limit to what various kinds of Latino voters are willing to stomach. The same dynamic is becoming more clear with regards to the economy, where Latino voters, and new Trump voters specifically, are unhappy with the state of the economy. Biden defectors, Equis finds, are net negative on Trump's economic policies: -6 percent of support in May and -8 percent in July. Whether this dynamic not only hurts the GOP but also helps Democrats is unclear. Although many Latino voters still believe Republicans favor the wealthy over the working class, this long-standing sentiment is no longer pushing them toward the Democratic Party. Instead, they increasingly distrust both parties on this question. But together, these signs suggest that the GOP is going too far with their policy and ideological mission in Trump's second term, turning off the new converts they won to their coalition over the last 10 years. Where the parties go from here The two major parties are making errors with Latino voters. Both have to moderate their policy and ideological approaches while bringing more nuance to how they campaign. Latinos do have some things that bind them together, and they are not just like white voters who can ignore discrimination and scapegoating and uprooting of their extended community's lives (as immigration enforcement is showing). At the same time, they need to be talked to with more nuance. Democrats tried to do this in 2024, moderating on immigration, dropping the usage of the term 'Latinx,' and investing in hyper-specific, hyper-local campaigning with various kinds of Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans, and others. But there was only so much campaigning they could do when facing a wave of anti-Biden, anti-incumbent electoral sentiment. Republicans, meanwhile, toned down immigration talk and zeroed in on subgroups of the Latino electorate in battleground states in 2020. They appealed to religious and ideological conservatives — Cuban, South American, and Puerto Rican communities in Florida, as well as border communities in Arizona, Nevada, and Texas. Some of this nuanced campaigning did carry over to 2024, but it focused more on young and male Latinos in general. And 2024 saw a return to a kind of dog-whistle, racialized, and anti-immigrant scapegoating, which helped the anti-incumbent tide.
