'We are deeply concerned.' Protesters urge Indiana leaders to refocus on state issues

Indianapolis Star

22-07-2025

CARMEL – Dozens of demonstrators gathered outside U.S. Sen. Todd Young's Carmel office July 20, calling on Indiana's Republican congressional leaders to invest in local communities rather than promote the administration's goals of arresting and deporting migrants.
Two similar protests were happening concurrently outside the offices of U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz in Noblesville and U.S. Rep. Rudy Yakym in Mishawaka, with protesters calling on the representatives to prioritize issues that they said would benefit Hoosiers directly.
The Indiana State AFL-CIO, Indivisible Central Indiana, and the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance organized these protests in response to the federal government's passage of the massive bill, known as the "One Big, Beautiful Bill," which includes tax cuts, increased spending on immigration enforcement and budgetary reductions to Medicaid.
"Across Indiana, we have hundreds of Hoosiers standing together to say we want our taxpayer dollars to be used for housing, health care and education, and not to be used for masked ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) officers who terrorize our communities and frankly, kidnap our friends and families," said event organizer Stuart undefined.
IndyStar reached out to Young's, Spartz's and Yakym's offices for comment.
Although Young did not provide a direct response to the July 20 protest, he did provide his reasoning for voting for the "One Big, Beautiful Bill."
'The One Big Beautiful Bill Act provides important resources to support and modernize our military. It also will significantly invest in border security to build more of our border wall and hire more border patrol officers," Young said in a statement to IndyStar.
Spartz's press secretary provided a statement to IndyStar's question regarding the demonstrations.
"The Congresswoman has been committed to fixing our broken health care system since her time in the State Senate," said Spartz's press secretary in an email to IndyStar.
"We've made some progress, but much more needs to be done to improve transparency, affordability, access, and outcomes – and to stop material fraud and abuse."
At the time of publication, Yakym had not provided a comment.
Mora said this issue runs deep for him and others who work in immigration law. He has witnessed growing fear among Indiana's migrant communities concerning increasing militarization of immigration enforcement across the country.
This was on display earlier in the month, when protesters outside of a Ventura County farm in Camarillo, California, were hit with pepper balls and tear gas as federal agents were conducting an immigration sweep on Glass House Farms, one of the state's largest cannabis farms.
More: Families divided, rage, tear gas: How the Glass House raid went down
That immigration raid led to the arrest of more than 350 people, including George Retes, 25, a U.S. Army veteran, while he was on his way to work. Retes was released from jail three days later.
The raid also led to the death of Jaime Alanís Garcia, 56, a farm worker who fell 30 feet off a building and suffered "catastrophic" injuries to his head and neck.
Although Indiana has not experienced an immigration raid at this scale, community leaders shared that many in migrant communities are afraid that they may potentially be picked up off the street and deported, whether rightfully or not.
Many also shared concerns about Indiana and Indianapolis leaders increasing participation with national immigration enforcement.
"Part of our concern is with the use of our jails (being) used as a detention center for ICE," said Rev. Carolyn Higginbotham with the Central Christian Church Disciples of Christ.
"We are deeply concerned about the way in which our tax dollars are being spent and we do not want them used to warehouse folks for ICE. What we want is for them to invest in things that are actually going to make our city a better home for everyone and a place where people feel safe."
Earlier this year, the Marion County Adult Detention Center started being more heavily used as a place where the federal government temporarily jailed immigrants picked up in Indiana and neighboring states.
This came after the federal government ran into capacity issues at its existing immigration detention center, as 84 of the 181 detention facilities exceeded their contractual capacity on at least one day during October 2024 through mid-April 2025, according to a report by nonprofit TRAC.
Included on that report was the Clay County Justice Center in Brazil, Indiana. The jail is contracted to house up to 100 migrants, but appears to have an average daily population of about 242 people through mid-April, according to TRAC data.
More: Marion County Jail is housing ICE detainees. Here's why that concerns some
Demonstrators also called on Indiana leaders to stand against the federal government's plan to turn the Camp Atterbury military post near Edinburgh into a temporary detention center.
This news was announced on July 15 in a letter written by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth outlining a plan to use Camp Atterbury as temporary housing for migrants being held by the Department of Homeland Security.
"The terrible irony (is) that this is the place where we welcomed Afghan refugees a couple of years ago, and now those same people could be targeted for removal through the same facility," Higginbotham said.
Many at the protest said they believed that Indiana's state government leaders should shift their focus from federal issues to more localized problems, like the growing divide among low-income families wanting to improve their children's education, or the housing affordability crisis emerging in cities like West Lafayette and Carmel.
"Our message today is one of hope," said Sayra Campos, a representative from the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance. "We don't need more policing. We want investments in housing, health care, education, jobs with dignity and permanent protections for all Hoosiers."