The Indiana Attorney Generals Office is suing the Merrillville Town Council for violating a new state law requiring compliance with federal immigration enforcement.Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, made the announcemen t during a visit at a truck driving school in Gary, on Thursday, while highlighting state immigration enforcement efforts. He said this is the first enforcement action taken under the FAIRNESS Act.The new law, championed by Republican Gov. Mike Braun as a tool to bolster immigration enforcement, requires every governmental body in Indiana to comply with detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). It also prohibits policies obstructing federal immigration officials.Rokita had already sent a cease and desist letter to Merrillvilles town council, demanding it rescind a resolution passed in January opposing any new ICE facilities in town.The Attorney Generals Office has since obtained emails showing council members using the resolution as a pretext to ask private businesses to avoid leasing or selling property for an ICE facility.Those actions, Rokita claims, are direct violations of the FAIRNESS Act.Its one thing if the sites are picked, and theres a zoning board meeting, or some other kind of meeting, and theyre able to have an intelligence specific discussion about why that site wouldnt work. That's not what this resolution did, Rokita said. This resolution categorically said not in Merrillville. And thats aiding and abetting illegal aliens, putting them above U.S. citizens.Rokita claimed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had at least two property deals fall through because of the councils actions. He said the lawsuit is aimed at getting the council to rescind the resolution and stop interfering with DHS.The lawsuit was filed Thursday afternoon, according to a spokesperson with the AGs office, but it hadnt appeared in online records by publication. The AGs office said they couldnt share the filing until it had been processed by a court clerk. ...read more read less