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 Trumps 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 Trumps 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 lawmakers 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 <a href="https://foxnews.com/politics/inside-house-republicans-plan-en
