Court Strikes Down Indiana's Immigration Law

"In a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana affecting potentially all of Indiana's non-citizens, a federal judge today issued an order blocking portions of Indiana's immigration law and declaring it unconstitutional. ... Judge Sarah Evans Barker, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis, said in her ruling that the law "runs afoul of the Fourth Amendment" because it authorizes state and local law enforcement officers to "effect warrantless arrests for matters that are not crimes." Judge Barker had previously issued a preliminary injunction against the law and it never went into effect.  The law, Senate Enrolled Act 590, passed by the Indiana General Assembly and signed by Governor Mitch Daniels in 2011, permitted local law enforcement officers to make warrantless arrests of people in possession of certain immigration-related documents, even though the possession of those documents is not a crime. The law also made the use of identification cards issued by consulates of foreign countries illegal. ... The decision, Buquer v. City of Indianapolis, City of Franklin, Johnson County is entered in the United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana, Case No. 1:11-cv-0708 SEB-MJD. The ACLU of Indiana was assisted on this case by Angela Adams of the firm Lewis & Kappes, P.C. and attorneys from the Immigrants' Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union as well as the National Immigration Law Center." - ACLU, Mar. 29, 2013.

"The state will forego an appeal on Thursday's ruling, Attorney General Greg Zoeller said on Friday." - Reuters, Mar. 29, 2013.