Among the worst results of the recent election was the local–and sadly predictable–victory of Indiana’s statewide Republican ticket. Mike Braun can be expected to obediently follow the Trumpist/MAGA line. Micah Beckwith and Jim Banks are self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist and an embarrassment to the state (and, actually, to intelligent humans pretty much everywhere.) But Todd Rokita may actually be the worst choice Hoosiers made, if only because he was running for re-election after a term in which he displayed what he is for all to see–an unethical publicity hound consistently pandering to the very worst of the MAGA base.
And he is at it again–(mis)using the resources of his office to pursue ideological, rather than legal, ends. This time, it’s an effort to intimidate Indiana organizations that serve immigrant populations.
One of those organizations is Su Casa, a nonprofit organization that was issued a civil investigative demand by the office of the Indiana Attorney General. The purported reason was an inquiry into human trafficking. Su Casa–along with many other entities in Indiana that serve immigrant communities– are being “questioned” by the AG’s office, probing how they serve migrant communities.
Su Casa was founded in 1999 as a response to the increase of Latin American immigrants arriving in Columbus, Indiana. The majority of them had limited English proficiency, and Su Casa provided assistance and removed barriers to essential services in that community. It’s mission is to “increase self-sufficiency, health, economic independence, education, and ensure Latino families feel safe and belong here.” Its website says “Su Casa believes that all residents should have equitable access to the tools and support needed to be successful regardless of socio-economic or immigration status, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, or beliefs.”
MAGA cultists like Rokita consider such beliefs unacceptably “woke.”
When I did some research, I discovered that the Attorney General has initiated investigations into several organizations– including nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses– that work to facilitate what the cult deplores as an “influx of migrants into Indiana communities.” These investigations purport to be about labor trafficking and “the strain on local resources due to increased migrant populations.”
Rokita has evidently issued Civil Investigative Demands to the following organizations: the Cass County Health Department; Logansport Community School Corporation; Berry Global Group Inc. (a plastics manufacturing company in Evansville); Tent Partnership for Refugees (a New York-based nonprofit that connects refugees with employment opportunities); God is Good Foundation (a Christian ministry in Evansville assisting immigrants and refugees); and the Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation.
The investigations have been conducted under Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and the state’s indecent nuisance statute. I was totally unaware of that “indecent nuisance” law, and looked it up. Indiana Code § 32-30-7-1 defines an indecent nuisance as a place where prostitution other other sexual conduct takes place. (Indiana law also defines a nuisance as something that: Is injurious to health, Is offensive to the senses, obstructs the free use of property, and Interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property.)
Rokita has expressed concerns that the rapid growth of migrant populations in certain communities has led to overcrowding in housing facilities, strains on local schools and hospitals, and potential risks of labor trafficking. He has attributed these issues to “illegal immigration caused by ‘border czar’ Kamala Harris’ perversion and misapplication of federal law,” that has made “every state a border state and imposed unsustainable costs on Logansport and other cities across the nation.”
“When I did some research, I discovered that the Attorney General has initiated investigations into several organizations– including nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses– that work to facilitate what the cult deplores as an “influx of migrants into Indiana communities.”
How far back and how far into Trump’s Project 2025 did your research go before we were aware it existed? How “deep” does Rokita’s tentacles go into the Republicans at federal level. How long has he been preparing Indiana to be governed by what we are facing after the noon hour on January 20, 2025? Much as I hate what is coming, I am trying my damndist to prepare actually watching Trump’s speech that day to prepare myself for the actuality of his return to the White House.
Trump’s legacy will be tearing down our government until it is all and only Mar-A-Lago 2.0. Vance will supervise the destruction.
Trump will travel the world in all the comfort and safety we can afford and look for golf resort hotel opportunities to set up his family dynasty.
Meanwhile, the world will spin out of control without US democratic leadership.
The toxic poison at the base of our State’s politics is, indeed, extreme gerrymandering. Trump received 58.6% in the presidential contest. But our IN General Assembly gives Republicans a supermajority: 80% of the IN Senate and 70% of the House. This partisan distribution is grossly out of whack and unrepresentative of the voting public in Indiana. Until we can successfully address gerrymandering, we will be stuck.
Just what Jesus would do.
I don’t know how many workplaces have latinos working there but at my own work latinos makeup half of the workforce. Many of them cannot speak English. I can’t imagine what my employer would do if suddenly they weren’t there to work.
Prior to that I worked in another factory and it was the same thing. A whole group of little latino women making cheesecake and referring to me as “Learner” because they didn’t know my name.
The new nonprofit house bill passed by Congress was supported by 15 democrats, including the corrupt former leader of the party, DWS from Florida. She’s a real piece of work! I don’t understand why she wasn’t run out of politics after the crap she committed in 2016 for Hillary Clinton. It gives you a taste of what serves in the DP.
I agree with Sheila about Rokita. He is the only public official who sends me press releases with his “headshot” attached. Every press release is a braggart sheet.
Interestingly, Rokita and other officials would focus on the nonprofits that assist illegal immigrants but not the companies that employ illegal immigrants. Construction and manufacturing top the list. Service workers are also predominant in Indiana. Once they enter a franchise McDonald’s, their work ethic will wipe out the local teenage population. When I worked in Noblesville, they took over a McDonald’s, and the level of service improved threefold.
As for the Su Case in Columbus, I briefly searched for their Form 990 to find their major contributors. As I suspected, Cummins topped the list, and so did United Way. Is Rokita brave enough to go after Cummins? That’s a joke. I would suspect the leader of Su Casa is/was a former employee of Cummins who was set up to teach incoming employees English and acclimate them to the US. I could be way off, but that is what I suspect. Is this trafficking labor across the border?
Personally, I cannot imagine that immigrants coming from Central America and Mexico would have Columbus, Indiana, on their list of places to stay when the coasts offer them housing, money, and healthcare. However, if they knew a job awaited them in Indiana, that might sweeten the pot. 😉
We have a job ahead of us. The first thing we need is a good study of non-voters. Who are they, why they didn’t vote, and most importantly what would it take to get them to vote?
From that we need to determine how to provide what they need, how to get it to them, how to assure that they have accepted it, and if they have accepted the fact that their votes are necessary.
We can’t get complacent. We can’t afford another term of Kakistocracy
I guess what I’m trying to say is Capitalism likes cheap labor. Cheap Labor consists of people in need like immigrants and low income folks. You either got to raise the cost of your products so that your workers can earn more or you are hiring cheap labor. Americans don’t want to pay more for their products which is why so much stuff is stamped with made in China. I realize as a worker that we have lost lots of industrial/manufacturing knowledge because it has been taken overseas. I don’t know how to get that back unless we reindustrialize and hopefully if that happens it does so in a sustainable “ecofriendly” way in the future.
It would be comical if it wasn’t so sad. WTH are these white men so fearful of immigrants for? Even their ancestors were immigrants at one time. So, so hypocritical, profess to be Christian = hypochristians is my name to call them!
With every new but if information the nightmare becomes more real.
Sad.
I suspect that Jim Bopp and Koch money make Rokita’s actions entirely in tune with the clown’s objective to dismantle the “deep state”. What happens to all of those local, state and federal employees, to say nothing of those who are employed in the targeted non-profits when the wall come tumbling down?
When they came for me….
There seems to be a lot of confusion around the word “woke,” so I thought I would offer this clarification. “Woke,” is the Republican word for intellect. 🙂
Thank you, Phil.
Is a billboard so expensive that the DP couldn’t rent a few and post the TRUTH about many of the ways Republicans are hoodwinking the public, or what the law really is, or maybe other things they are doing to damage our state and our children our air our water, etc., etc.? 52nd street and Lafayette Rd has a nice billboard that a lot of people pass every day. That might be a place to start. A new message every month wouldn’t hurt.
Phil, so very true! Thanks for that! And Joanne, that is a GREAT IDEA! How can we make this happen? And thinking further out: one billboard like this in every county in Indiana would be AWESOME! 👏🏼
Immigrants are not exactly cheap labor. A study of the Cuban influx to Miami showed that labor wages went down for maybe 6 months, but as immigrants became acclimated and found their footing, they moved out of the lowest wage jobs and into more skilled and higher paying positions. With the increase in population now the new people need goods and services, the entire economy expands, including tax collection and things level out at new high. All of this happens within about 6 to 12 months. The law of supply and demand doesn’t actually work with people.
On September 27, I moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico…so glad I did!
After college my daughter followed her interests and worked at the Catholic Worker house of Su Casa on the south side of Chicago. They were housed in an old brick monastery that housed multiple immigrant families, mostly women with young children fleeing wars in south America. Giving supportive asylum was the mission of Su Casa and Dorothy Day was the founder.
I know that Su Casa was supported by several law firms in Chicago. Rokita will be taking on the Catholic Church and their teachings on immigration if he messes with Su Casa in Indiana.