A massive five- day ICE operation that netted 426 arrests across Indiana is fueling Hoosier Sen. Jim Banks’ push for Congress to cement President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown into law before a future administration can reverse course.
Banks hailed “Operation Safe Community: Indiana” in a Fox News Digital interview this week after federal immigration officers fanned out across his home state from Aug. 30 through Sept. 3, arresting 426 people with records involving sex crimes, assault, domestic violence, drug trafficking and weapons offenses, according to ICE.
“This is why Donald Trump was elected in 2024: for mass deportation,” Banks told Fox News Digital. “It was one of his key agenda items during the campaign. And in this case in Indiana, you see the direct result of it.”
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S IMMIGRATION PUSH FUELS ICE’S BIGGEST ARREST MONTH IN AGENCY HISTORY
ICE also credited cooperation with state and local law enforcement agencies in carrying out the operation, something Republicans have flagged as a key aspect to successful enforcement.
But Banks argued the operation also underscores a limitation of Trump’s crackdown: aggressive executive enforcement today does not guarantee that the same immigration policies survive the next administration.
“It is important that we codify Trump border security measures and tough-on-immigration policies and make them the law of the land,” he said.
The busts build on the lawmaker’s seven-bill immigration package, previously reported by Fox News Digital, which targets issues including birthright citizenship, family-based immigration, H-1B visas, noncitizens’ CDLs and congressional authority over Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to limit judicial intervention.
“If this could happen in Indiana, it could happen anywhere,” he added, arguing that the opposition has made it tougher to achieve immigration goals after displacing ICE from the 2025 immigration appropriations legislation.
“They’ve made that one of their biggest priorities in this Congress to defund our federal law enforcement, to stop ICE from doing their job, to deport violent criminals who are here illegally,” he said.
“So it is important that we codify Trump border security measures and tough-on-immigration policies and make them the law of the land so that the next time, God forbid, a Joe Biden ever gets elected back to the White House or someone that comes from that radical wing of the Democrat Party…”
Banks also directed his frustration at his own party, criticizing the Republican-led Senate for failing to advance separate election legislation that he says should be another priority.
Many on the right have pressed for passage of the SAVE Act, a bill requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.
“That’s one of my biggest disappointments with this Republican Senate – we haven’t passed [it],” he said.
“I hope by the end of the year that we can find a way to pass it. I’m going to keep fighting for it, but at the end of the day, the Trump administration and the Department of Justice is doing a lot crack down on illegals voting in our elections.”
In a separate Indiana case, DHS arrested an illegal immigrant on Sept. 18 who had entered the U.S. during the Obama administration and later cast a federal ballot.
ICE Enforcement Division Assistant Director Patricia Hyde said the right to vote is the “cornerstone of democracy” in announcing the capture of Guatemalan national Helda Mendez-Merida for “poisoning our elections.”
“We cannot allow that sacred right [to vote] to be perverted,” she said.
Banks said such incidents keep surfacing “because Joe Biden and Democrats flooded our country with tens of millions of illegals – they’re still here [and] mass deportation is important.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has repeatedly pushed back on criticism he is not working hard enough to pass the SAVE Act or advance the Trump agenda.
Thune previously told Fox News Digital that he is an original co-sponsor of a previous version of the bill and that the 50-vote threshold needed to pass provisions that qualify for the parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation remains a sticking point.
SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER
“I keep asking the question, am I the only one in this town that can count to 50? Because it seems like these questions recur and there are a lot of people out there who haven’t seemed to internalize the fact that there aren’t Democrats that are going to flip and vote for this,” Thune said.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller contributed to this report.
Massive ICE sweep fuels GOP push to lock Trump immigration crackdown into law 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-09-27 09:04:55
Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
