By Kris Cundiff 

Since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, his administration has relied on state and local governments to help enforce his sweeping immigration enforcement campaign. Indiana journalists have done important reporting on this crackdown and its impact on local communities, from the expansion of ICE’s presence across the Hoosier State to the deaths of two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in a state prison earlier this year.

A new state law recently signed by Governor Braun will expand the role of local governments in immigration enforcement. As you continue to report on this topic, I wanted to highlight a guide compiled by my colleagues at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press that can help you understand the legal issues you might run into along the way: the Immigration Reporting Legal Guide, available in English and Spanish.

In this column, I’ll give you an overview of three key takeaways from the guide. Be sure to check out the full guide to learn more.

Know the agencies that house immigration-related public records — and how to request them.

The American immigration system is a complex web of federal, state, and private entities — no single agency holds all the immigration-related records you may want to access for your reporting. Having an understanding of which agencies control the information you’re looking for can help you more quickly obtain it.

Through requests under the federal Freedom of Information Act, you can request immigration-related records from:

● U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

● U.S. Citizenship and Information Services

● U.S. Customs and Border Protection

● Executive Office for Immigration Review

The Reporters Committee’s legal guide explains what records these agencies house and how to submit FOIA requests to each agency.

You can also use Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act to obtain immigration-related records from state and local agencies that coordinate with federal immigration enforcement.

For example, let’s say you’re looking into the conditions at the prison in Indiana where two ICE detainees recently died. Though the detainees were in federal custody, they were being housed at a detention center operated by the Indiana Department of Correction, which signed an agreement with the federal government last year to house up to 1,000 ICE detainees at the Miami Correctional Facility.

That means you’ll need to request records from the IDOC under the state public records law. (For a helpful reference on APRA, check out the Reporters Committee’s Open Government Guide for Indiana.)

But you don’t have to stop there. You can maximize the amount of information that you obtain by using FOIA in combination with APRA. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General handles inspections of detention facilities, public or private, and is subject to FOIA.

Immigration proceedings are presumptively open to the public, with some exceptions.

As the Reporters Committee’s guide explains, immigration proceedings — including removal proceedings, through which the government seeks to deport a noncitizen — are presumptively open to the public and press. Indiana’s sole immigration court is in Indianapolis.

The latest guidance from the federal sub-agency that oversees immigration proceedings encourages reporters to contact its policy office in advance at PAO.EOIR@usdoj.gov to “coordinate visits,” but reporters aren’t obligated to do so or get permission before attending a hearing.

If an immigration judge or court administrator suggests that preapproval is required, please contact me at kcundiff@rcfp.org.

Understand your rights when covering immigration enforcement officers on the ground.

The guide also covers what journalists need to know about legal obstacles they may face when reporting on immigration officers carrying out enforcement operations in public places.

Generally speaking, the First Amendment protects recording government officials, including immigration enforcement officers, who are carrying out their official duties in public. Seven federal appellate courts have recognized the constitutional right to record, including the Seventh Circuit, which has jurisdiction over Indiana.

The strength of that protection depends on how public the space is. For example, your First Amendment right to record is strongest in a traditionally public place, like a public road or sidewalk. But courts have held that the government has a much lower burden to justify infringing on someone’s right to record in places like a military base or an airport terminal.

The Immigration Reporting Legal Guide is just one of the Reporters Committee’s many free resources that can help you overcome legal issues you face in the course of reporting. You can find the rest of them on the Reporters Committee’s website.

One more thing: I wanted to shout out to all the Indiana journalists who were recently honored at the 2026 Indiana SPJ Pro Awards. Congratulations, all!

As always, I’m here to provide the free legal support you need to produce hard-hitting reporting. Reach out to me at kcundiff@rcfp.org.

Kris Cundiff is the Indiana Local Legal Initiative attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. He lives just outside of Indianapolis.