Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana

Good morning. I think it’s still morning. We’ve got another 15 minutes. Alright, good morning, everyone.

In just a few minutes, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, U.S. Attorney Myers, and I will meet with some of our federal and state law enforcement partners here. The current elevated threat environment has placed an enormous burden on their shoulders. I am glad I have this chance to thank them directly for their service. I look forward to our discussion.

In the most difficult moments for our communities and for our country, strong partnerships between federal and local law enforcement agencies and the communities we serve, are essential to getting us through.

As always, but especially now, the Justice Department is remaining vigilant in the face of the potential threats of hate-fueled violence and terrorism.

We are closely monitoring the impact that the conflict in the Middle East may have in inspiring foreign terrorist organizations, homegrown violent extremists, domestic violent extremists both abroad and here in the United States.

All of us have also seen a sharp increase in the volume and frequency of threats against Jewish, Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities across our country since October 7.

That’s why, in October, I directed the FBI and each of our U.S. Attorneys to meet with law enforcement and community leaders to discuss what they are seeing on the ground and how we can best support them in the face of these threats.

Senior leadership at the Justice Department and I have done the same. In my conversations with law enforcement, community, and religious leaders, I have reiterated that the Justice Department has no greater priority than protecting the safety and security of everyone in our country.

Protecting all people and all communities from hate-fueled violence was the Justice Department’s founding purpose in 1870, and it remains our urgent purpose today.

As we work together to counter the new and unprecedented threats our communities are facing, we are not taking our eyes off other urgent challenges.

Here in Indiana, and across all 94 of our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, we are continuing to implement our Department-wide strategy to combat the violent crime spike that began during the pandemic.

A cornerstone of that strategy is our partnerships with state and local law enforcement and with the communities they with every single day.

For this Office, that has meant working with the FBI’s Safe Streets Task Force and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department as part of an OCDETF investigation to target the most substantial fentanyl trafficking organizations in central Indiana.

In August, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana announced that it had secured the sentencing of the 20th defendant in connection to a major drug trafficking [investigation]. Over the course of the investigation, law enforcement seized more than 72 pounds of fentanyl, 117 pounds of methamphetamine, 113 firearms, and 60 machine gun conversion devices. Combined, the defendants were sentenced to over 265 years in federal prison.

In June, this office took part in another OCDETF investigation with ATF, the IRS, and the DEA. As a result of that investigation, the office charged a defendant with unlicensed firearms dealing. The defendant is charged with selling more than 590 firearms to two individuals, aware that the firearms he sold would be transported to Mexico.

Law enforcement seized more than 1,000 firearms from the defendant’s residence.  

These examples represent just a sliver of the work that our law enforcement officers in the Southern District of Indiana do to fulfill the Department’s mission: to uphold the rule of law, to keep our country and our communities safe, and to protect civil rights.

The Justice Department, and I personally, appreciate just how stressful and dangerous the job of law enforcement is.

In July 2021, a man drove his pickup truck to the gate of an FBI building in Terre Haute and threw a Molotov cocktail toward that building. When Terre Haute Police Detective and FBI Task Force Officer Gregory Ferency walked out of the building, the man shot and killed him. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is currently prosecuting the man we allege is responsible for Officer Ferency’s heinous murder.  

Just this past July, Marion County Sheriff’s Office Deputy John Durm was brutally murdered when an inmate he was transporting strangled him to death with the chains of his handcuffs. 

In this year alone, five law enforcement officers in the Southern District of Indiana have tragically died in the line of duty.

My heart goes out to these officers’ families, and to the families of so many others who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect their communities.

The Justice Department will do everything in our power to support law enforcement officers and their families. We know that when our officers are safe and supported, our communities are safer too.

Thank you for being here. Now I’m pleased to introduce the Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta.