Indiana State Police is seeking nearly $30 million in federal funding for surveillance technology, vehicles and investigative tools that would bolster the agency’s work with federal immigration authorities.
Hoosier law enforcement officials applied in July for funding through the U.S. Department of Justice’s fiscal year 2026 Bridging Immigration-Related Deficits Experienced Nationwide program, known as BIDEN. Congress created the $3 billion program through President Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The program offers money to state and local law enforcement agencies participating in, or committing to join, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g) program. That initiative trains and authorizes state and local officers to perform certain federal immigration functions under ICE supervision.
ISP’s report to the State Budget Committee lists a $29,069,985 federal request. A revised budget and federal application form included in the same 33-page submission put the total at $30,269,985.
Sgt. John Perrine, an ISP spokesperson, said the application remained pending as of Sept. 8 and that the Justice Department had not announced which applicants would receive funding.
New cameras, vehicles, tracking equipment
No state or local matching money is proposed, according to the application. ISP also reported that it would add no employees.
The agency described the project as broader than immigration enforcement, though, saying the equipment would support work involving drugs, human trafficking, organized crime, violent offenses, child exploitation, fugitives and forensic investigations.
But immigration enforcement is embedded throughout the application.
ISP said one of the project’s goals is to “increase the quality, speed, and consistency of immigration-related enforcement support while maintaining proper vetting, documentation, and supervision.”
The application said 185 ISP troopers had been trained and certified by ICE under the agency’s 287(g) agreement as of July. By Sept. 8, that number had increased to 217, Perrine said.
The certified troopers include road officers, detectives, interdiction personnel, narcotics investigators and commercial motor vehicle enforcement officers.
As of July, ISP personnel had participated in 276 detainments under the agreement, according to the application. Certified troopers conduct at least two enforcement efforts with ICE each quarter and regularly work alongside municipal officers who support the initiative, ISP officials wrote.
ISP did not provide updated figures or say how many of those detainments resulted in people being transferred to ICE custody.
The agency’s Intelligence Fusion Center also receives immigration-related tips and forwards vetted information to ICE, U.S. Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations. The application says the center had received 604 such tips, including 573 about individuals, 14 involving Indiana Department of Correction parolees, 14 tied to addresses and three concerning businesses.
“Those figures show a sustained and growing federal-support workload that requires trained personnel, reliable technology, and coordinated statewide intelligence capacity,” ISP officials wrote in the application.
The federal money would build upon an immigration partnership that ISP already established.
An executive order issued in 2025 by Gov. Mike Braun directs state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE to the maximum extent permitted by law, including by entering agreements that authorize officers to perform certain immigration functions.
ISP described its need for the money as “immediate and statewide” and said the grant would help sustain and expand its 287(g) participation, federal task force work and immigration-tip screening.
Still, ISP maintains that the grant would strengthen existing capabilities rather than create a separate immigration enforcement operation.
“All the equipment and supplies obtained through this opportunity will augment enforcement efforts in every segment of public safety regardless of crime or threat,” Perrine said. “This includes immigration enforcement. Better trained, better equipped troopers will benefit all Indiana communities.”
Most of the requested money would be used to purchase equipment. The revised budget allocates about $21.6 million for equipment, $6.8 million for technology and other contractual costs, $1.2 million for construction or renovation, about $476,000 for supplies and $204,200 for travel and training.
The request includes $10.56 million for 176 vehicles, budgeted at $60,000 each. ISP said the vehicles would replace or expand its fleet, including marked and unmarked vehicles used by investigators and troopers.
The application says those vehicles would be shared across the agency rather than assigned exclusively to immigration enforcement. The fleet would support investigators, uniformed troopers, interdiction teams, narcotics units and other personnel, including officers participating in 287(g) activities.
The proposed purchases also include covert surveillance cameras, license-plate and vehicle-identification tools, cellular-location systems, armored vehicles, drones, firearms, ballistic vehicle upgrades, protective equipment, K-9 resources and forensic technology.
The revised budget adds $1.42 million for 20 covert camera units. ISP said the systems would allow a limited number of personnel to maintain surveillance over multiple locations at once and preserve recorded data for investigations or prosecutions.
ISP officials said the agency’s existing covert-camera infrastructure is aging and that its current mobile surveillance capacity is limited. The grant application says those shortcomings can delay deployments during time-sensitive operations.
Another $3 million would pay for three years of an investigative platform used to process cellphone information and court-order data. ISP officials described the system as a tool to identify people, addresses, vehicles, financial flows, cryptocurrency activity and connections among people or organizations.
Other proposed purchases include five cell-site simulator systems costing a combined $1.5 million, 10 portable cell-site simulator backpacks totaling $570,000 and 20 license-plate camera systems totaling $300,000.
The application says the location and surveillance technology could be used to investigate drug and human trafficking, organized crime and immigration-related matters. It does not specify how much of the equipment would be devoted to immigration enforcement.
Perrine noted that court authorization is required to obtain cellular-location records. ISP policy also requires “a legitimate law enforcement purpose” and documented inquiry to search license-plate reader data, which is generally purged after 30 days unless preserved in an investigative file.
The Fusion Center can share the information with authorized government or private-sector personnel for official public safety or justice purposes and must maintain an audit trail.
Advocate disputes ISP’s characterization
Cole Varga, CEO of Indianapolis-based Exodus Refugee Immigration, said the application’s promises to sustain and expand ISP’s federal partnerships undercut public statements portraying immigration enforcement as a limited part of the proposal.
“They are downplaying their involvement but they are indeed involved,” Varga told the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
Varga argued that omitting personnel costs allowed the application to avoid legislative scrutiny. Even if the grant does not directly pay salaries, he said, using federal money for equipment could free other agency dollars for immigration-related work.
“But, that ISP claims there will not be staffing connected to this agreement is misleading,” Varga said. “If you are subsidizing other parts of your annual budget with equipment, that frees up other funds to spend on ICE cooperation.”
The application does not identify any new positions. It says existing ISP personnel would carry out the proposed work and that no subrecipients would receive grant money. Partner agencies could participate through existing task forces and other relationships, but would not be funding recipients.
Varga also pointed to reports of ISP making immigration arrests around South Bend and elsewhere in the state during recent weeks. State police officials did not respond to a question about its involvement in recent federal operations.
Varga called for greater scrutiny of any coordination between state police and federal immigration agents.
Perrine said ISP cooperates with law enforcement agencies “in the furtherance of our mission and to protect every citizen in Indiana.” Asked whether accepting the grant would impose any new immigration enforcement duties or conditions, he said ISP “will continue to support the enforcement efforts of our federal law enforcement partners.”
“ISP’s mandate is to keep Indiana safe,” Varga rebuttled, “not to help a rogue federal agency to kidnap more immigrants.”
No budget committee review
Despite its size, the request did not require advance review by the State Budget Committee. ISP instead submitted the application as part of a report to committee members.
A state law that took effect in 2025 requires agencies to report requests for new federal funding quarterly. But it does not require the committee to review an award before acceptance when the money requires no state match, no additional permanent full-time employees and no new requirements that Indiana must meet.
ISP reported zero dollars in state, local or third-party matching funds, no new staff and no additional requirements “at this time.”
The law requires the report to identify the amount requested, any new state spending or employees, the conditions attached to the funding and the agency’s federal application. It does not give the committee approval authority over grants that qualify for the exception.
At an August meeting, Rep. Ed DeLaney, an Indianapolis Democrat, sought to move the ISP grant from the committee’s report list to its review agenda. The motion failed along party lines.
State Budget Director Chad Ranney said the request did not meet the legal threshold for review and that delaying it could interfere with ISP’s ability to accept the money if federal officials approved the application, the newspaper reported.
Varga contended the structure allowed ISP to avoid meaningful examination of how accepting the equipment could influence the agency’s priorities.
“Staffing lines were left off the budget to evade oversight,” he said.
The application itself describes no such intent. ISP did not respond to Varga’s allegation or explain how it determined that accepting the grant would impose no new requirements on the state.
The proposed performance period would begin Aug. 1, 2026, and continue for three to five years. During the first 90 days, ISP would finalize internal project governance, confirm purchase priorities and begin procuring equipment, according to the application.
The agency said it would track detainments, immigration enforcement operations, tips forwarded to federal agencies and investigations supported as part of its required federal reporting.
This story has been updated with additional information from Indiana State Police.
This story was written by Indiana Capital Chronicle reporter Casey Smith.
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