Indiana has positioned itself as one of the Trump administration's most active partners in immigrant detention — and one of the most financially invested.

County jails across the state reportedly earn $85 per day for each person held in immigration detention. The state corrections system entered a contract that could generate up to $213 million over two years for detaining immigrants at a maximum-security prison. Nearly forty state agencies, sheriff's offices, and local police departments have signed agreements to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

What makes this troubling isn't just the scale — it's who is being detained. According to reporting, 83 to 90 percent of immigrants held in some Indiana facilities have no criminal record. Two men have reportedly died in ICE custody at the state prison. Former detainees have described conditions they say caused lasting physical and psychological harm. An immigration court in Indianapolis has reportedly denied 93 percent of asylum cases brought before it so far in 2026.

When states and counties profit from holding people in detention, financial incentives can run ahead of accountability. Communities are left asking whether enforcement decisions are being driven by public safety — or by the $85-a-day payment.

Indiana's leaders built this system. They can change it. Sign this petition urging Governor Mike Braun and the Indiana legislature to end the state's ICE detention contracts, suspend financial agreements that incentivize local law enforcement to hold immigrants, and commission an independent review of all Indiana facilities currently detaining immigrants on behalf of the federal government.