A Monroe Circuit Court judge has signed a consent decree settling part of Attorney General Todd Rokita’s lawsuit against Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté over the sheriff’s immigration policy — but not the part the two sides have fought over hardest.

Special Judge Luke Rudisill approved the decree Aug. 27. The parties signed it a day earlier.

The decree bars the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office from restricting deputies who want to help federal immigration authorities. It does not touch the sheriff’s policy of declining immigration detainer requests that are not accompanied by a criminal judicial warrant, and it states that nothing in it requires him to change that policy. That dispute remains in litigation.

Rokita’s office announced the decree this week as a major victory. The attorney general said in a statement that the case’s “resounding successes” would echo beyond Monroe County and serve notice that his office means business in enforcing the state’s immigration laws.

The Case

Rokita sued Marté and the sheriff’s office in July 2024, alleging Standard Operating Procedure MCSO-012 violated Indiana Code chapter 5-2-18.2, the state’s ban on sanctuary policies.

The policy then in effect said the office would not enforce immigration or citizenship law unless required to, barred a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and prohibited deputies from running immigration or citizenship checks on people they encountered unless required to in the execution of their duties.

The General Assembly amended the statute while the case was pending, passing Senate Enrolled Act 76 — called the FAIRNESS Act by Rokita’s office, which says he championed it. Sections 4 and 5 took effect on passage. The Section 3 amendments took effect July 1, 2026.

The Terms

Under the decree, the sheriff’s office agrees not to enact, implement, maintain or encourage any policy or practice, written or unwritten, that restricts personnel from participating in federal immigration enforcement, from checking a person’s immigration or citizenship status or from communicating with federal officials, exchanging information with other government agencies or sending and receiving information from the Department of Homeland Security.

The office must post a notice in the squad room and jail for at least six months telling personnel they have discretion to cooperate with federal authorities. The same notice states that nothing in state law or MCSO-012 requires deputies to engage in immigration enforcement.

For 12 years, the office must notify the attorney general in advance of substantive changes to MCSO-012 and report employee complaints about compliance. If the state believes the county is out of compliance, counsel must meet within 15 days. If the dispute is not resolved in 30 days, the state may move to compel, seeking injunctive relief and civil penalties of up to $10,000 per knowing or intentional violation.

The decree states the defendants admit no liability.

The Release and the Decree

Rokita’s news release says that as a result of the FAIRNESS Act and his enforcement action, the sheriff “has agreed to eliminate many of his unlawful policies.” The decree’s recitals say the office revised MCSO-012 twice after SEA 76 was signed and that the current version — which dropped the 287(g) ban and the status-check restriction — took effect July 1, 2026, before the decree was signed.

On 287(g), the release lists the sheriff as agreeing not to restrict personnel from entering into agreements with federal immigration agencies. The decree’s term is narrower. The office agrees not to prohibit, create unreasonable obstacles to or preclude such an agreement, and the decree adds that a decision by Marté or a future sheriff not to enter one in a particular instance will not, by itself, establish a violation.

The release does not mention a preliminary injunction issued June 30, 2026, that bars the state from enforcing Indiana Code 5-2-18.2-9(a)(3) against Marté or his office. A footnote to the policy attached to the decree says that provision is excluded from MCSO-012 as a result.

Blake Lanning and Aaron Ridlen signed the decree for the attorney general’s office. Alexandra Lichtenstein of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection in Washington, D.C., signed for the sheriff.