The legal dispute between Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita and plastics powerhouse Berry Global Group Inc. is heating up, according to a report from Berry's hometown newspaper in Evansville, Ind.
You'll recall that Rokita announced on Nov. 8, 2024 — just days after Donald Trump was reelected president — that he was investigating Berry Global and five other organizations in Indiana as part of a probe into alleged labor trafficking networks.
At the time, it looked like Rokita was auditioning for a role in the Trump administration. He said the investigation was focused on Evansville, Logansport and Seymour, in response to what he said were concerns from residents and elected officials "about the large-scale influx of illegal aliens and 'legal migrants' into their cities and towns."
Does that remind anyone else of Trump's allegations about Springfield, Ohio?
The November election may seem like ancient history now, and Rokita never got that coveted call from the White House, but his investigation isn't going away, according to an in-depth report from the Evansville Courier & Press.
The attorney general's office has sent civil investigative demand letters to Berry, the Haitian Center of Evansville and others, alleging that he has "reasonable cause to believe that you may be in possession, custody, or control of documentary materials or may have knowledge of facts that are relevant to an investigation being conducted concerning human labor trafficking and indecent nuisances."
Berry Global and the Haitian Center are attempting to quash the civil investigative demand letters, and the newspaper, which quotes from court filings by Rokita and the Haitian Center, is reporting that the dispute is "unmistakably adversarial."
Among other things, Rokita is demanding that Berry Global name the legal status of each migrant it has employed in Indiana in the past three years. The company's motion to quash is under seal, according to the Courier & Press, but Rokita's response accuses Berry Global of making "an attempt to evade and impede the state's lawful administrative investigation."
Berry Global has declined comment, but a state representative from Evansville — who also works for Berry — has said that immigrants have helped the company staff unfilled manufacturing jobs and argued that the community has embraced the efforts.