Braun on ICE arrests: "That should raise eyebrows"
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Gov. Mike Braun says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should keep the focus on arresting people who committed crimes after entering the country illegally.
Why it matters: Braun has been a devoted supporter of President Trump and his administration's plan to crack down on immigration and deport millions of people from the U.S., but the governor's latest comments seem to question ICE's recent actions.
- As we reported earlier on Thursday, ICE arrests of people without criminal charges or convictions surged in Indiana in June.
- In January, ICE arrested 136 people in Indiana, of whom 6% had no criminal charges, an Axios analysis found.
- In June, 23% of the 309 people ICE arrested in the state had no criminal charges.
"If that data is correct, I'd say that should raise eyebrows," Braun said when Axios Indianapolis asked him about it, "because I've been clearly on record: the worst first. And there are many of them out there."
- "And if you're actually involving others, you're not probably doing a good enough job, in terms of finding out who you're talking to, because that shouldn't be the end result."
Driving the news: The Department of Homeland Security plans to use Indiana's Camp Atterbury for temporary housing of "immigrant detainees."
What he's saying: "I've been clear. I'm for helping remove criminals after they came in here illegally," Braun told reporters Thursday. "So if we've got a facility, we're going to be helpful. The details, the logistics of it, have not been fleshed out yet."
The latest: The move to use Camp Atterbury comes as Trump officials push immigration agents to ramp up arrests, while facing a capacity crisis in immigration detention facilities.
- The increased arrest quota — triple what it was in the early days of the Trump administration — also appears to be driving the increase in ICE arrests of people without criminal charges.