🚨 Community Alert: Anti-Immigration Bill Hearing Monday (2/17/25) 🚨
📅 Hearing Scheduled: Monday, February 17, 2025, at 9:30 AM | 📍 Location: Indiana State House, Room 156-B
TL;DR
House Bill 1531 is a sweeping anti-immigrant bill that merges language from multiple harmful bills.
🚨 If Passed, This Bill Would:
Mandate ICE enforcement by forcing local governments to comply with detainer requests or face legal action;
Remove existing methods of accountability, by providing immunity to governmental entities engaging in immigration enforcement;
Punish employers through strict work verification requirements and severe penalties;
Target parole sponsors with new reporting mandates and legal consequences;
Require schools to report students who are “unlawfully present,” “non-English dominant,” or non-U.S. citizens; and
Force schools to report bilingual educators to the state.
📢 The Hearing is Set – We Need Testimonies
The hearing for HB 1531 is scheduled for Monday, February 17, at 9:30 AM in Room 156-B of the Indiana State House.
If you are a business leader, faith leader, an educator, victim advocate, or community member who will be impacted by this bill, we urge you to testify. Personal testimonies from affected community members matter. Legislators need to hear from real people about what’s at stake.
➡ Want to testify but not sure where to start? Sign up here for support.
➡ Ready to sign up on your own? Register directly when the sign-up opens the night before or the morning of.
Even if you can’t testify in person, you can submit a written testimony. It’s critical that lawmakers see the human cost of this bill beyond the political rhetoric.
Stand against this harmful bill and tell lawmakers to vote NO on HB 1531.
A Bad Bill with Serious Consequences
HB1531 is yet again, another anti-immigration bill that pulls together some of the worst provisions from multiple harmful proposals this session. This bill once again, focuses on coercing and threatening local law enforcement agencies and governmental bodies into assuming the role of federal immigration agents.
Dismissing valid concerns from affected agencies, this bill is proof that Republicans are dead set on:
Ripping control away from local agencies;
Coercing these agencies into transforming their operations and forcing personnel into becoming de facto federal ICE agents, irregardless of capacity or input; and
Removing any recourse for parties aggrieved in the pursuit of fast-tracking deportations.
These bills not only undermine the work and trust built between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve, they penalize already underfunded, understaffed and overworked public servants for not complying with the enforcement of these federal mandates.
Fast-Tracking Deportations = Due Process Violations
Oh but there’s immunity in the bill, they say. But, immunity for what exactly?
Well, as it's currently written — the bill's language is designed to create a detention-to-deportation pipeline and streamline as many people as possible. In the process of ushering people through this flawed system, constitutional rights will inevitably be violated. The immunity clause removes previous methods of accountability and protections against discriminatory violations.
In other words, if you’re a U.S. Citizen who fails to produce “proof of lawful status” when encountering an arresting law enforcement agent, and you’re unable to provide this before you’re given an ICE detainer, you could be placed in indefinite detention, or worse, deported without due process. Under this immunity clause, you have no legal recourse.
Mexican Repatriation and Operation Wetback
This bill and what it aims to do are reminiscent of a time when the United States government deported nearly 2 million Mexican-Americans, half of whom were U.S. Citizens, in the 1930s during the Mexican Repatriation program.
Beyond these grim prospects, this bill is intentionally vague and wasteful, as it reiterates existing laws that have existing methods of enforcement. For example, local government agencies already have compliance methods around ICE detainers and employers already have hiring verification processes and requirements. All in all, these aggressive and harsh methods of immigration enforcement are paving the way for a return of programs like Operation Wetback, an Eisenhower era military-style program of year-long raids.
Immigration is a federal issue – thus creating strict reporting mandates for parole sponsors is a state overreach. Never mind the xenophobic language in the bill’s school reporting requirements: as the language currently stands, this bill would require school districts to report students who are “unlawfully present,” “non-English dominant,” or non-U.S. citizens—along with reporting bilingual educators to the state.
This bill is a deliberate attempt to create terror, target immigrant families, punish schools, and deputize local governments into federal immigration enforcement. We can’t sit back and be passive bystanders as this terror plays out.
Take Action Now
The best way to fight back? Keep Showing Up.
Sign up to testify at the February 17 hearing. We are collecting sign-ups for those interested in testifying. If you sign up through our form, you’ll receive an email from us with guidance on how to prepare. You can also register to testify on your own, which typically opens the night before the hearing.
Show Up at the State House – If you’re able to attend, your presence matters. A strong turnout sends a clear message. Signs are welcome, but they must be foldable to pass through security.
Join Us For INLDC’s Press Conference: The People’s Assembly — on Thursday, March 13th from 10AM - 12PM at the Indiana State House, 4th Floor Atrium, on the South Side of the building. More details to come!
Spread the word – Share this with your networks so people know what’s happening.
What to Expect If You Attend on Monday, February 17
HB 1531 is one of multiple bills being discussed, so exact timing is uncertain.
Room 156-B is small, and overflow attendees may be redirected.
You can testify in person or submit written testimony. If you would like assistance with testifying, sign up here.
We know this session has been relentless. Bills like HB 1531 are designed to exhaust us—to make us feel overwhelmed, defeated, and too tired to fight back. That’s exactly why we have to keep pushing.
To those who have shown up, spoken out, and kept up the pressure—thank you. Your voices matter. Your presence is felt, and your efforts are making an impact.
This fight isn’t over. Let’s keep showing up. See you at the State House. 💙
Know Your Rights
Join us for Know Your Rights + Join Us for ALMA Open Hours!
Have you checked out our Know Your Rights section on our website yet? With harmful bills like HB 1531 creating confusion and fear, it’s more important than ever to understand your rights at home, work, and in public spaces. Knowledge is power—make sure you and your loved ones are prepared.
Looking for a space to connect, learn, and take action? Join us on Sunday, February 16, from 2-5 PM at CAFE for ALMA’s Inaugural Open House! This is a great opportunity to learn more about your rights, access resources, and connect with the new coalition, ALMA. Whether you need guidance, want to get involved, or just want to be in community, we welcome you.
📍 Where: CAFE (8902 East 38th StreetIndianapolis, IN, 46226)
📅 When: Sunday, February 16, 2-5 PM
🔎 What: Know Your Rights resources, community connections, and more!
Navigating Legislation in Real Time
We know these bills are purposely written in confusing and vague language, making it difficult for the public to fully grasp their impact. We are doing our best to analyze and break them down in a way that is both timely and accurate. However, as we work through complex and fast-moving legislation, there may be times when we need to correct or clarify information. If that happens, we will update our Substack and other communications as quickly as possible. Our priority remains ensuring our community has the knowledge and tools to take action.
Catch us at Indy Latinx Pride’s “Know Your Rights” Event - Saturday, February 22, 2025
From Latinx Pride Indy: Attention community! Latinx Pride invites you to our “Know Your Rights” event on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at 10 E Arts Hub from 10 am to 2 pm. We will offer some notary services, a Q&A session with immigration attorneys, and additional resources for our immigrant community.
This is a safe space for anyone who could benefit from these services. We can’t wait to see you there!
I would like to testify.