Republican Gov. Mike Braun announced on Friday Indiana will assist on multiple levels with federal efforts to enforce U.S. immigration laws after years of exponentially worsening illegal migration affecting Americans nationwide.
“Indiana is not a safe haven for illegal immigration. Indiana will fully partner with federal immigration authorities as they enforce the most fundamental laws of our country,” the governor said in a statement released minutes ago.
Under cooperative agreements with the Trump administration announced on Friday, four Indiana agencies will increase their assistance to federal immigration enforcement: the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Indiana State Police, Indiana Department of Correction, and Indiana National Guard. A new U.S. law passed in July funds thousands more Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
The governor’s moves, the results of months of work with the Trump administration, come as several top Indiana Republicans have publicly opposed their voters’ strong desire for immigration enforcement. U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Third District, recently cosponsored a bill to end the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws against illegal entrants. State Sen. Liz Brown may soon face a primary challenger backed by U.S. Sen. Jim Banks for blocking an immigration enforcement bill this spring on behalf of state legislative leadership. Both houses of the Indiana legislature are controlled by Republicans.
The cooperation agreements also clarify the governor’s position on illegal immigration for voters. Last week, in-state media suggested the governor may only support deporting foreign citizens who have committed crimes beyond illegal entry.
These partnerships help fulfill one of Braun’s first executive orders. It pledged Indiana’s executive agencies would be “fully cooperating with” the Trump administration’s “immigration policies to the extent permitted by law.” To achieve that, Indiana’s Department of Homeland Security signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE to assist with its deportation efforts. The governor’s office says the cooperation will follow a “task force” model employed in other states, notably including Florida.
Under these new agreements, Indiana law enforcement agencies will help ICE find, arrest, and deport illegal aliens in Indiana prisons, jails, and streets. The state is making available 1,000 beds at Miami Correctional Facility and the National Guard facility Camp Atterbury to temporarily house detained illegal migrants on their way home.
Camp Atterbury was used by previous Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to bring in 7,000 unvetted Afghanistan migrants after the Biden administration’s disastrous military withdrawal. The damage the migrants did to the facilities required $16 million in repairs.
A 2024 survey found that enforcing U.S. immigration laws was Indiana Republican voters’ No. 1 priority. A July 2025 survey found 79 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of all voters nationally support deporting every illegal migrant. Indiana is a Republican supermajority state.
A Federalist estimate in June suggested Indiana would save some $2 billion per year if illegal residents and anchor babies were returned to their countries of origin. That’s nearly the state’s entire two-year budget shortfall lawmakers scrambled to fill earlier this year.
“Governor Braun is also anticipating further partnership between the Indiana National Guard and federal immigration authorities,” says a press release from his office.
