November 7, 2025 • 11 mins
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
We're announcing a new enforcement action my office is taking
to eliminate local government policies in Indiana that.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Give sanctuary to illegal aliens.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I am bringing a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Public Schools
over their policies that hamstring ICE's ability to keep our
schools safe from criminal illegal aliens.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That was a statement yesterday.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Video statement put out by the Attorney General of Indiana,
Todd Raketa.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Me.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I'm Tony Katz ninety three WIBC, Good morning, Good to
be with you. He was standing next to Chad Wolfe,
the former acting Secretary of Homeland Security.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
While he made this statement.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
The Attorney General, Todd Raketa joins us right now. Full
Disclosure Indiana Unclaimed is run by the Attorney General's Office.
It is a sponsor of a segment on this show
and on this station.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
That does not.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Change how we do the interview. You'll decide for yourself.
I am just a believer in the full disclosure. Let's start, sir,
with what it is that we're saying here. You're going
about this lawsuit for ignoring against IPS, for ignoring immigration law,
interfering with ICE. Is this because of what they've said
(01:11):
or is this because of something they've done?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Hey, Tony, going to be with you both.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Really it started January eighth when ICE reached out to
me and they needed help because they were getting stonewalled
by IPS. And the reason they were getting stonewalled is
because there was a child of an illegal alien who
was at the school. Now you remember, Christy no advertised
(01:38):
the idea of self deporting, and that resulted in thousands
of thousands of people here legally deporting themselves voluntarily so
that they might have a chance later in life to
come back the right way without being penalized. Well, there
was a father here in Indianapolis who wanted to do
just that, and so he detected the.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
School to get his kid so that they could go
back to wherever they came from.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
The school wouldn't give up the kid, and so ICE
reached out to us and we inquired.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We started an.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Investigation that led to phone calls, that led to letters
that were ultimately ignored by IPS, and it led us
to discovering that they have a pretty clear policy so
in writing that forbids their employees from cooperating with ICE
unless the superintendent approves not collecting or maintaining anything about
(02:31):
immigration status. And not allowing any law enforcement or ice
law enforcement in to any non public areas of the school.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Could we agree just as allowing me to interrupt? And
I appreciate that that we would see these things as
different things. Not allowing ice or law enforcement to the
school is far different than whether or not we expect
schools to be keeping copious notes on all the students.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
True, and that's not what the requirement is. But the
Indiana law does require you not to operate a sanctuary jurisdiction.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So when you take these.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Policies together, what we're alleging and will be successful is
that they're operating a sanctuary jurisdiction. Now, remember Tom Holman,
who was here just a few weeks ago at my
invitation and talked about it then, but he's also talked
about it consistently for the last ten months or so.
Joe Biden and his administration led in four hundred thousand
(03:30):
children unaccompanied without parents. They're roaming this country right now,
four hundred thousand kids. I think about the sex trafficking
implications and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Else that goes along with that.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
Who's to say that some of those four hundred thousand
kids aren't in Indiana, schools aren't at IPS and so there's.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
A huge issue there.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
And to say you're going to have a policy that
actually prohibits them collecting any information that would help ICE
find these four hundred thousand kids is.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
A real problem, Tony. And I'm not going to take
that line down.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Talking to the Attorney General of Indiana, Tadarikida, and I
absolutely think about those kids who have been trafficked up here.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Where are they now? What exactly is happening to them?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
How the Biden administration clearly in levels of admission, lost
sight of them, lost track of them, lost.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Count of them. It is horrifying.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
But when you talk about a lawsuit, how does one
engage a level.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Of enforcement here?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
To sue a school district is different than whether or
not a specific teacher can actually follows the rules or
tries to subvert them.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
So what is the enforcement mechanism at play?
Speaker 5 (04:41):
Well, it would be to enjoin the school from operating
a sanctuary city. So they did get rid of these policies,
they get rid of these rules, they cooperate with ICE.
That's the relief for looking.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
But you might still have to if there was a
teacher doing ex or an administrator doing why you may
still have to deal with them on a different lawn.
For horsement basis, this is about a removal of rules
that are situated that exist to stop whether it's you
law enforcement Indiana or federal law enforcement from doing its job.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Right. And this is a civil lawsuit.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
So in Indiana, the General asembly has not given the
Attorney General criminal jurisdiction over for example, your example about
a teacher or something like that.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
That would still be the local prosecutor.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
That would be local law enforcement that kind of thing. However,
the General Assembly has instructed me to enforce against any
local jurisdictions that are operating a sanctuary city or school or.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Anything like that. And so that's the nature of this.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
So if it's up to the local prosecutor in Indianapolis,
that would be Ryan Meares, and we have seen that
that is not somebody who actually thinks that the role
of being a prosecutor means actually prosecuting.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Have you spoken to him about this at all?
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Because the civil matter, so I wouldn't necessarily speak to
him about you know this, again, the statute that I'm
operating under given to me by the General Assembly.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Have you spoken to him about prosecuting those teachers, those administrators,
those within school districts at ips who don't follow the
letter of the law.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Well, no, that's my jurisdiction and it's a civil violation.
So and he does criminal law. So no, I wouldn't
have a reason to do that. But there's a million
other things to talk about, right with regard to the
fact that Indianapolis is one of the worst crime ridden
cities in the US.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I think it was ranked number one.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Recently, especially per capita, which is the reason I asked
President Trump actually to come in and help us.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
She did, you U understand, Tony. So in Indiana, the.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Attorney General's office isn't even called for in our constitution.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I don't know if you knew that.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
It's a statutory creation. So everything that I can do
or not do is usually prescribed is prescribed in statute.
In Indiana, local prosecutors and all of them doesn't matter really,
Republican or Democrat, are very, very vehemently and jealously protect
their discretion to file criminal charges. They're the only ones
(07:11):
in the state that really can do that. And so
in other states, my counterparts have I do have criminal
jurisdiction in other states, my counterparts do, but in this
state I don't. So, you know, I ask for help
where I can get it. I'm still a citizen of
the state. I'm still a taxpayer. I'm still a leader
(07:32):
in the state. And so when you don't have a
prosecutor that cooperates, that doesn't prosecute whole sloths of crimes.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You go to other places ask for help.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Talking to the Attorney General of Indiana, Todd Rokita, you
did make a statement on social media where you said, Hey,
President Trump, send the National Guard here to Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
We need it. What has been the response.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
From Governor Brown, Lieutenant Governor Beckweth, Republicans in the House,
in the Senate, and from the President himself.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I know we've been talking to the White House a
little bit about it. So there's that, And I haven't
heard anything from Governor Brown, Governor bent With or anyone
else really that you mentioned.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Is it a problem in your view that you're not
hearing from these people or they haven't made this call
for the Trump administration to get involved yet you had
to be the first.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well, you know, we're all leaders.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
I'm a state wide elected official leading. You know, I
saw an issue, waited a little bit to see if
anyone else was going to do anything about it, and
you know, like as you know Tommy, you know me,
I don't wait around too long and do what I
can where I can. So we'll see what happens with that.
There's a lot of federal property here in the city
of Indianapolis, and so there's reason for the president to come.
(08:53):
I think he'd be welcomed here, you know, aside from
very local leaders, I think the state would welcome him here.
And it's all our It's our capital city, just like Washington,
DC is our capital city. Also is Indianapolis for the states.
So we all have an interest, no matter where we
live in the State of Indiana, we all have an
interest in making sure our capital city is a safe place,
is a place we can all be proud of, is
(09:14):
a place we can all go to and like and
bring our friends and family members from out of state
here and show off.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And it's hard to do that right now.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
There's been a lot of conversation about why the state
does not get more involved in the safety and security
of Indianapolis. It has been broached before, and the city
leadership quote unquote the civic leaders and others who have
nothing to say about crime in general. We'll say, hey, State,
leave us alone. This is none of your concern. Are
(09:46):
you a believer that the state should be more involved
in Indianapolis's safety and security and engage a level of
takeover or should the city be engaged in removing the
mayor from such a leadership position in an institute, a
town council system or town manager system, I should say
that would leave the mayor to be ceremonial.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Well, I firmly.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Believe that people need to pick their leaders and they
shouldn't be removed except by the people.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So there's that.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
But aside from that, you know, I've watched as a
guy from northwest Indiana who served in a couple of
different state wide offices. Now I've watched this city grow
and climb and be something that's that punched way above
its weight. And it took decades, and I just cannot
believe the city fathers and mothers and others who built
(10:34):
up this city over the last decades, you know, who
associate with other names like Luger and Hudnut and Goldsmith,
wouldn't support me in this effort to help get this
city cleaned up, right. I mean, so much time, so
much money, so much effort has been put into all
this over decades, just to see it go right down
a toilet like this, and we're going to stand by and.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Say, oh, that's okay.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
It's just those Democrats, that's how they do things. They're different,
and poor Joe hog Sett and what absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
And so that's you know, that's kind.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Of what was going on in the back of my
mind when I when I put out the social media
post
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Attorney General Todd Rokita, I appreciate you taking the time
We're announcing a new enforcement action my office is taking
to eliminate local government policies in Indiana that.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Give sanctuary to illegal aliens.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I am bringing a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Public Schools
over their policies that hamstring ICE's ability to keep our
schools safe from criminal illegal aliens.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
That was a statement yesterday.
Speaker 4 (00:24):
Video statement put out by the Attorney General of Indiana,
Todd Raketa.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Me.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I'm Tony Katz ninety three WIBC, Good morning, Good to
be with you. He was standing next to Chad Wolfe,
the former acting Secretary of Homeland Security.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
While he made this statement.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
The Attorney General, Todd Raketa joins us right now. Full
Disclosure Indiana Unclaimed is run by the Attorney General's Office.
It is a sponsor of a segment on this show
and on this station.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
That does not.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
Change how we do the interview. You'll decide for yourself.
I am just a believer in the full disclosure. Let's start, sir,
with what it is that we're saying here. You're going
about this lawsuit for ignoring against IPS, for ignoring immigration law,
interfering with ICE. Is this because of what they've said
(01:11):
or is this because of something they've done?
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Hey, Tony, going to be with you both.
Speaker 5 (01:17):
Really it started January eighth when ICE reached out to
me and they needed help because they were getting stonewalled
by IPS. And the reason they were getting stonewalled is
because there was a child of an illegal alien who
was at the school. Now you remember, Christy no advertised
(01:38):
the idea of self deporting, and that resulted in thousands
of thousands of people here legally deporting themselves voluntarily so
that they might have a chance later in life to
come back the right way without being penalized. Well, there
was a father here in Indianapolis who wanted to do
just that, and so he detected the.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
School to get his kid so that they could go
back to wherever they came from.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
The school wouldn't give up the kid, and so ICE
reached out to us and we inquired.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
We started an.
Speaker 5 (02:11):
Investigation that led to phone calls, that led to letters
that were ultimately ignored by IPS, and it led us
to discovering that they have a pretty clear policy so
in writing that forbids their employees from cooperating with ICE
unless the superintendent approves not collecting or maintaining anything about
(02:31):
immigration status. And not allowing any law enforcement or ice
law enforcement in to any non public areas of the school.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Could we agree just as allowing me to interrupt? And
I appreciate that that we would see these things as
different things. Not allowing ice or law enforcement to the
school is far different than whether or not we expect
schools to be keeping copious notes on all the students.
Speaker 5 (03:00):
True, and that's not what the requirement is. But the
Indiana law does require you not to operate a sanctuary jurisdiction.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
So when you take these.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Policies together, what we're alleging and will be successful is
that they're operating a sanctuary jurisdiction. Now, remember Tom Holman,
who was here just a few weeks ago at my
invitation and talked about it then, but he's also talked
about it consistently for the last ten months or so.
Joe Biden and his administration led in four hundred thousand
(03:30):
children unaccompanied without parents. They're roaming this country right now,
four hundred thousand kids. I think about the sex trafficking
implications and everything.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Else that goes along with that.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
Who's to say that some of those four hundred thousand
kids aren't in Indiana, schools aren't at IPS and so there's.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
A huge issue there.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
And to say you're going to have a policy that
actually prohibits them collecting any information that would help ICE
find these four hundred thousand kids is.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
A real problem, Tony. And I'm not going to take
that line down.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Talking to the Attorney General of Indiana, Tadarikida, and I
absolutely think about those kids who have been trafficked up here.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Where are they now? What exactly is happening to them?
Speaker 4 (04:13):
How the Biden administration clearly in levels of admission, lost
sight of them, lost track of them, lost.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Count of them. It is horrifying.
Speaker 4 (04:21):
But when you talk about a lawsuit, how does one
engage a level.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Of enforcement here?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
To sue a school district is different than whether or
not a specific teacher can actually follows the rules or
tries to subvert them.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
So what is the enforcement mechanism at play?
Speaker 5 (04:41):
Well, it would be to enjoin the school from operating
a sanctuary city. So they did get rid of these policies,
they get rid of these rules, they cooperate with ICE.
That's the relief for looking.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
But you might still have to if there was a
teacher doing ex or an administrator doing why you may
still have to deal with them on a different lawn.
For horsement basis, this is about a removal of rules
that are situated that exist to stop whether it's you
law enforcement Indiana or federal law enforcement from doing its job.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Right. And this is a civil lawsuit.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
So in Indiana, the General asembly has not given the
Attorney General criminal jurisdiction over for example, your example about
a teacher or something like that.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
That would still be the local prosecutor.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
That would be local law enforcement that kind of thing. However,
the General Assembly has instructed me to enforce against any
local jurisdictions that are operating a sanctuary city or school or.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Anything like that. And so that's the nature of this.
Speaker 4 (05:41):
So if it's up to the local prosecutor in Indianapolis,
that would be Ryan Meares, and we have seen that
that is not somebody who actually thinks that the role
of being a prosecutor means actually prosecuting.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Have you spoken to him about this at all?
Speaker 5 (05:59):
Because the civil matter, so I wouldn't necessarily speak to
him about you know this, again, the statute that I'm
operating under given to me by the General Assembly.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Have you spoken to him about prosecuting those teachers, those administrators,
those within school districts at ips who don't follow the
letter of the law.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Well, no, that's my jurisdiction and it's a civil violation.
So and he does criminal law. So no, I wouldn't
have a reason to do that. But there's a million
other things to talk about, right with regard to the
fact that Indianapolis is one of the worst crime ridden
cities in the US.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I think it was ranked number one.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
Recently, especially per capita, which is the reason I asked
President Trump actually to come in and help us.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
She did, you U understand, Tony. So in Indiana, the.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
Attorney General's office isn't even called for in our constitution.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
I don't know if you knew that.
Speaker 5 (06:51):
It's a statutory creation. So everything that I can do
or not do is usually prescribed is prescribed in statute.
In Indiana, local prosecutors and all of them doesn't matter really,
Republican or Democrat, are very, very vehemently and jealously protect
their discretion to file criminal charges. They're the only ones
(07:11):
in the state that really can do that. And so
in other states, my counterparts have I do have criminal
jurisdiction in other states, my counterparts do, but in this
state I don't. So, you know, I ask for help
where I can get it. I'm still a citizen of
the state. I'm still a taxpayer. I'm still a leader
(07:32):
in the state. And so when you don't have a
prosecutor that cooperates, that doesn't prosecute whole sloths of crimes.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
You go to other places ask for help.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Talking to the Attorney General of Indiana, Todd Rokita, you
did make a statement on social media where you said, Hey,
President Trump, send the National Guard here to Indianapolis.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
We need it. What has been the response.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
From Governor Brown, Lieutenant Governor Beckweth, Republicans in the House,
in the Senate, and from the President himself.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
I know we've been talking to the White House a
little bit about it. So there's that, And I haven't
heard anything from Governor Brown, Governor bent With or anyone
else really that you mentioned.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Is it a problem in your view that you're not
hearing from these people or they haven't made this call
for the Trump administration to get involved yet you had
to be the first.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Well, you know, we're all leaders.
Speaker 5 (08:31):
I'm a state wide elected official leading. You know, I
saw an issue, waited a little bit to see if
anyone else was going to do anything about it, and
you know, like as you know Tommy, you know me,
I don't wait around too long and do what I
can where I can. So we'll see what happens with that.
There's a lot of federal property here in the city
of Indianapolis, and so there's reason for the president to come.
(08:53):
I think he'd be welcomed here, you know, aside from
very local leaders, I think the state would welcome him here.
And it's all our It's our capital city, just like Washington,
DC is our capital city. Also is Indianapolis for the states.
So we all have an interest, no matter where we
live in the State of Indiana, we all have an
interest in making sure our capital city is a safe place,
is a place we can all be proud of, is
(09:14):
a place we can all go to and like and
bring our friends and family members from out of state
here and show off.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
And it's hard to do that right now.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
There's been a lot of conversation about why the state
does not get more involved in the safety and security
of Indianapolis. It has been broached before, and the city
leadership quote unquote the civic leaders and others who have
nothing to say about crime in general. We'll say, hey, State,
leave us alone. This is none of your concern. Are
(09:46):
you a believer that the state should be more involved
in Indianapolis's safety and security and engage a level of
takeover or should the city be engaged in removing the
mayor from such a leadership position in an institute, a
town council system or town manager system, I should say
that would leave the mayor to be ceremonial.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Well, I firmly.
Speaker 5 (10:08):
Believe that people need to pick their leaders and they
shouldn't be removed except by the people.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So there's that.
Speaker 5 (10:14):
But aside from that, you know, I've watched as a
guy from northwest Indiana who served in a couple of
different state wide offices. Now I've watched this city grow
and climb and be something that's that punched way above
its weight. And it took decades, and I just cannot
believe the city fathers and mothers and others who built
(10:34):
up this city over the last decades, you know, who
associate with other names like Luger and Hudnut and Goldsmith,
wouldn't support me in this effort to help get this
city cleaned up, right. I mean, so much time, so
much money, so much effort has been put into all
this over decades, just to see it go right down
a toilet like this, and we're going to stand by and.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Say, oh, that's okay.
Speaker 5 (10:56):
It's just those Democrats, that's how they do things. They're different,
and poor Joe hog Sett and what absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
And so that's you know, that's kind.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Of what was going on in the back of my
mind when I when I put out the social media
post
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Attorney General Todd Rokita, I appreciate you taking the time
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