The Indiana Senate gave final approval to an immigration bill that allows local and state police to enforce federal immigration laws and for those officers to cooperate with ICE.

With the 37-11 vote in favor of the bill, it heads to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk for signature to become law. State Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, and State Sen. Jean Leising, R-Oldenburg, joined all Democrats present to vote against the bill.

Leising said because she represents a rural district, she was concerned about the impacts the bill will have on the state’s agricultural industry.

For two hours, the Senate discussed the bill as it debated whether to support the amendments the House made to the bill.

State Sen. Liz Brown, who authored Senate Bill 76, said the House made many changes to the bill, including banning written and unwritten sanctuary city laws and requiring that federal employment verification standards are followed, among other things.

“We are a sovereign nation only if we have secure borders. The last administration did a disservice to immigrants and, more importantly, to U.S. citizens by ignoring our immigration laws and removing any barriers to entry,” Brown said. “When President Trump’s teams began asking for state and locals to assist federal law enforcement, it has been of the utmost importance to me that we respect the concerns, safety and otherwise, of law enforcement.”

Senate Bill 76 states that the enforcement of federal immigration laws may be carried out by federal, state or local law enforcement. Under the bill, the Indiana Department of Correction will provide training to all sheriffs-elect on how to cooperate with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The bill was amended in the House Judiciary committee by State Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City, to more closely align with the bill he proposed last year, known as the FAIRNESS Act: Fostering and Advancing Immigration Reforms Necessary to Ensure Safety and Security. Brown was criticized by Attorney General Todd Rokita after the 2025 session for not advancing the FAIRNESS Act when it reached a Senate committee she chaired.

The bill allows the attorney general to sue a government agency, school or jail that doesn’t comply with federal immigration officials with a penalty of $10,000 for each violation. The amendment also states that a government body couldn’t be sued for complying with the bill.

If someone is detained under an immigration detainer request, the bill states that the governmental body should give the judge authority to either grant or deny the person’s release on bail, as well as record in their file, comply with and inform the detainee of the immigration detainer request.

The bill prohibits an employer from recklessly or intentionally hiring or employing an undocumented immigrant. The bill allows the attorney general to sue employers who hire undocumented immigrants and report the person to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Further, the bill requires the legislative council to receive a report with data on the number of Hoosiers who aren’t citizens and are enrolled in or receiving benefits through the Indiana Residential Care Assistance Program, public assistance and welfare programs, family assistance services, Medicaid and Community Mental Health Services.

If a law enforcement officer, government body or educational institution is sued, the attorney general shall defend the party, the bill states. It also removes the mens rea standard when it comes to governmental or educational institutions for violating the citizenship and immigration status information and enforcement of federal laws.

The bill allows the governor to withhold state grants or funding to a city that doesn’t comply with the law.

As the Senators were addressing the House amendments to the bill, Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith, the president of the Senate, shared a picture from inside the chamber and his support for the bill as a whole on his “Micah Beckwith For Indiana” Facebook page.

“This is a commonsense immigration bill that gives Indiana the tools we need to uphold the rule of law and ensure that those who are here illegally are no longer draining resources meant for Hoosier citizens,” Beckwith said.

State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, voiced his concerns with the way the bill was amended because it still gives local and state law enforcement authority to enforce federal immigration laws without considering the cost of training and increasing police officers’ workload.

Randolph also expressed concern with the employment section of the bill because it will likely lead to company leaders selecting candidates based on preconceived notions about who isn’t an immigrant to avoid breaking the law.

The bill “invites” ICE into Indiana, Randolph said, and with that will come the “untrained and unprofessional” ICE agents who have detained and killed American citizens, as in Minnesota.

“We don’t need these kinds of things at all. It doesn’t help us. It hurts us,” Randolph said.

State Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-Indianapolis, said as a former principal, when she read the sections about schools having to comply with ICE agents, she pictured her former secretary Lisa, a former military police officer, the “first line of defense” for people entering the building.

“Lisa didn’t play. I’m imagining if someone came in and said, ‘Is little Andrea enrolled here?’ … I’ll be darned if anybody gets past Lisa to get into the building,” Hunley said.

Under federal law, schools are required to teach students regardless of immigration status, Hunley said. Under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, student information is protected, she said.

So, with Senate Bill 76, school administrators will have to choose between breaking state law or federal law if an ICE agent entered a school and started asking questions about students, Hunely said.

“We can’t get this wrong when we’re talking about kids. I can’t imagine for a moment coming to school to pick up my child and them not being there and me not knowing where they are,” Hunley said.

State Sen. Shelli Yoder, D-Bloomington, said the biggest concern she has with the House changes to the bill was the removal of mens rea, which means before someone can be charged, prosecutors have to prove he or she knowingly broke the law.

As a whole, the bill will impact schools, employment practices and the workforce pipeline. The bill will likely lead to racial profiling in all those areas, Yoder said.

“Immigration status is not visible. Citizenship is not visible. Legal work authorization is not visible. When enforcement depends on suspicion, suspicion inevitably falls on appearance, language, accent and background,” Yoder said.

Republican legislators leaned on divisive rhetoric to differentiate between Hoosiers and illegal immigrants. Many of the Republicans who spoke voiced support for removing undocumented immigrants from the country.

State Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, said he supported the bill and the methods used to remove undocumented immigrants.

“I don’t care how long they’ve been here. They need to get out. I support every method of getting every (undocumented immigrant) out of Indiana today. I don’t care who they work for. I don’t care how many family members are here. Makes no difference to me,” Garten said.

State Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, said as Trump said in his State of the Union address, the government should put citizens first.

“To me, our first duty is to protect our citizens, not those who are here illegally,” Young said.

akukulka@post-trib.com