INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita is laying out the priorities for his office after a resounding victory at the polls for a second term.
Rokita said Tuesday's election results are a referendum on the work his office has done over the past four years.
The Republican won a second term by collecting 59% of the vote over Democrat Destiny Wells. He got more votes than Governor-elect Mike Braun.
Rokita calls President-elect Donald Trump a friend, but said he kept his name off the list of people interested in serving in the Trump Administration. Rokita said he likes the job of attorney general and wants to keep fighting for the Hoosiers who just reelected him.
Rokita said he looks forward to helping the Trump Administration with a deportation plan to deal with illegal immigration.
"If President Trump implements a plan and there's Indiana law that's helpful to that plan, I will utilize it," Rokita said in a Thursday news conference. "I don't know any specific federal authority that allows me ... I mean, maybe they can deputize us or something to help in whatever plan that he has, and I'd be interested to look at that to see what it is and see if we have the capacity and ability to help in that regard. And I would."
Rokita boasted about his office making Indiana the first non-border state to file a lawsuit against the federal government over illegal immigration. He said his office has currently filed civil investigative demands with businesses and organizations in Evansville, Seymour and Logansport.
"What we suspect is that businesses, in conjunction with nonprofit entities, are incentivizing, acting like magnets, for these illegal aliens as they come over the border to place them in low-paying work or otherwise engage in labor trafficking," Rokita said.
Rokita said he also wants to ensure that attorneys and judges in Indiana are safeguarded against what he calls frivolous, politically-motivated complaints to the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission. Rokita himself has faced multiple complaints and a public reprimand from the Commission, which still has an open investigation of Rokita.
"This is all about speech," Rokita said. "This isn't about stealing anybody's money. This isn't about groping. This isn't about other physical acts or anything like that. This is about, in my case, political speech. This is about policy speech. This is about me taking on issues and saying things that they don't like — they being those who want to weaponize our Indiana Supreme Court, who want to create this lawfare."
Rokita said a third priority is using Indiana's antitrust law to investigate hospital monopolies that are increasing health care costs. He also wants a thorough review of the costs of the health care plan for state employees.
Rokita said he will continue to defend the legality of Indiana's abortion ban.
"So far, we've been able to uphold Indiana's pro-life law, and I'm proud to have been able to do that," Rokita said. "We do have a regulatory aspect if there's a doctor that performs an illegal abortion, and we get a complaint about that, we'll certainly enforce the law when it comes to that. That's a civil matter. So, it would be a matter of their professional license. There's also a criminal aspect to that kind of action, which I would not be involved with. That would be your local county prosecutor."