Hamilton County sheriff-elect Charles Hallowell said Thursday that he plans to end the county’s voluntary partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, wanting to focus resources at the local level.
“If we start looking at the bed space, the high percentage of that bed space currently is being filled,” Hallowell said Thursday in an interview in Westfield. “We don’t really want to put ourselves in the position that we don’t have the capacity to be able to meet the needs of Hamilton County and what Hamilton County is going to need.”
Section 287(g) of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act allows local police and sheriff’s deputies to carry out certain immigration enforcement duties. Current Hamilton County Sheriff Dennis Quakenbush, a Republican, in February 2025. Quakenbush, a Republican, could not run for the position again due to the state’s rules on term limits.
Cooperation in the program is voluntary.
Hallowell, the first Democratic Party sheriff in Hamilton County in decades and the county’s first Black sheriff, defeated Republican Dustin Dixon in the November general election.
“The Sheriff’s Department is not, you know, immigration,” Hallowell said Thursday. “It’s local law enforcement, and we have to make sure that those resources are here for the people in Hamilton County and be used for that.”
Hallowell made it clear that the county will not end all cooperation with federal law enforcement and will continue to follow the law.
“We’re going to abide by all the laws that we have to abide by,” he said. “All lawful orders, we’ll abide by those orders, but we have to make sure that the resources that we have are going to be geared toward Hamilton County and Hamilton County residents.”
Hallowell, who has lived in Hamilton County for more nearly 25 years and spent the last 24 years with the Westfield Police Department, said his top priority is the people of Hamilton County.
“I want to make sure that we are serving and protecting all people. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and Hamilton County has done that,” he said.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita said on social media that his office will keep a close eye on Hallowell’s pledge to keep ICE out.
“We will be watching closely to ensure the Sheriff-elect, once he’s sworn into office, upholds the law by honoring ICE detainers as required by the FAIRNESS Act and fully protects the people of Hamilton County.”
Hallowell will be sworn in as the Hamilton County sheriff in January.
