WLPD will adjust immigration policy after Rokita’s ‘sanctuary city’ threat

WL police chief says policy never meant to skirt state, federal immigration laws. Mayor questions the political optics of attorney general’s threat to sue. Plus, new IEDC estimates on water for LEAP

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WLPD WILL ADJUST IMMIGRATION POLICY AFTER ROKITA’S ‘SANCTUARY CITY’ THREAT

West Lafayette next week will update a section of its police manual on how officers handle certain immigration violations, after Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita threatened to sue the police department on July 1 for not following federal law.

West Lafayette Police Chief Troy Harris said Wednesday that new language dealing with immigration detainers – basically the 48-hour holds on suspects requested by federal immigration officers – was being finalized this week and would go to the city’s board of works for its consideration Tuesday.

Harris said the change, one paragraph in a three-page section on immigration violations in the department policy manual, wouldn’t effectively change how officers do their work. Harris said he couldn’t recall having to handle an immigration detainer in his 26 years of police work.

“The new language will reflect the federal statute maybe a little better,” Harris said. “We worked with the attorney general’s office to make sure that was what they were after here.”

Harris said that he was considering sending a message to the more than 100 other police agencies in Indiana that use Lexipol, a Texas-based company, to keep their policy manuals in line with state and federal code. Harris said the policy on immigration violations – not among those required by the Indiana Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission, which reviews departments based on standards and best practices – was added to WLPD’s manual in 2019 and has been updated on Lexipol’s advice since then. Harris said Lexipol defended the policy, as written. (Lexipol officials did not immediately respond to questions on the matter.)

Whether Rokita’s office would do the same wasn’t clear, as of Wednesday, after singling out West Lafayette Police Department for that particular immigration policy.