Fight the Smoligarchy: Indiana's Deportation Machine
This Isn’t a Raid—It’s a Revenue Model and We’re the Ones Getting Squeezed
A wave of anxiety has recently swept through Indiana with TikToks swirling around speculating about ICE staying at hotels downtown or potentially in Plainfield. And the fear is palpable…
Hoosiers are scared that Indianapolis could start to look like Minneapolis.
Unfortunately, dear reader, I cannot predict the future. But I don’t need a crystal ball to know Indianapolis isn’t about to look like Minneapolis—at least not in the way the rumors suggest. And especially not when elected officials like Secretary of State Diego Morales are so willing to hand over Hoosier voter registration data the moment the federal government asks.
But this isn’t about what might happen.
It’s about what’s already been built, quietly and systematically, while we weren’t looking.
Indianapolis isn’t bracing for a raid…it’s being wired for a permanent, expanding operation.
Grab your coffee or your Dr. Pepper and let’s look at what we do know.
Forget the Rumors. Watch the Paper Trail.
In January of 2025, Governor Mike Braun signed an Executive Order pledging “full cooperation” with ICE. The order directs every state agency to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, and local outfits like the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office simply couldn’t wait to oblige.
The result?
An analysis done by Axios found that ICE arrests in Indiana shot up 127% from January to June 2025. What’s more telling is that the targets have since shifted.
In January of 2025, 6% of those arrested had no criminal charge. By June? That number ballooned to 23%. So much for the “criminal alien” pretext.
And yet, cooperation wasn’t enough.
They needed space. So, in August 2025, the state proudly announced a new partnership wherein Indiana would lease 1,000 beds in the Miami Correctional Facility to ICE.
Our Indiana tax dollars at work, folks.
While schools crumble, rural hospitals close, and our young people are priced out of homeownership, our tax dollars are busy expanding an ICE detention empire.
And who benefits? Follow the money.
In late November 2025, The GEO Group, a private prison giant, dropped a cool $5,000 directly into Governor Braun’s campaign coffers. Another GEO-linked entity threw in another $5,000 the same day. A tidy $10,000 investment.
Now, against this backdrop, comes the real power grab—HB 1343.
This little gem would turn the Indiana National Guard into a militarized police force with law enforcement powers under the direction of the Governor.
Chilling.
And wouldn’t you know it? The bill’s author, Rep. Steve Bartels (R), received a $1,000 donation from GEO Care LLC on December 27, 2025.
For context, the window to file new bills had opened just weeks prior. The donation landed right in the sweet spot between conception and introduction.
A coincidence? Please.
That’s not a donation; that’s a down payment.
Not a Spectacle, a System
So, will Governor Braun or any Indiana official stand up for Hoosiers against an overreaching ICE?
Don’t hold your breath.
They aren’t preparing for a Minneapolis-style spectacle. They’re building a quieter, more sustainable system—one where mass deportation becomes a routine, lucrative, and unchallenged function of the state.
In red states, fascism doesn’t come down from Washington in a single blow. Instead, it is laundered through our institutions by spineless officials more interested in proximity to power than accountability to the people they represent.
Hoosiers will have to look out for one another, because the people in power have made clear whose side they’re on…
Indiana does not represent my values as a Christian or a Hoosier. It's a terrible state to live in.