Noblesville, Indiana, is known as a safe, fast-growing city with a low crime rate. They have a
competitive and growing school system as well as emergency services that are well suited to the
size of the community. Multiple local charity organizations support this area and there are a growing
number of apartments around the city. But what if that wasn’t the whole story? What if more
migrants than Millers were living in some of those apartments? What if some of those apartments
were bringing more crime, undocumented students, and emergency service run volume into the city
and over burdening the local charities? What if all this was happening while a shift in demographics
has been taking place in our schools?
Noblesville is home to about 75,000 residents, which is substantially larger than Logansport
(18,000) and Seymour Indiana (22,000) which have well documented issues with migrants. This
might be why the amount of migrants coming into Noblesville has gone relatively unnoticed by the
more significant amount of the population. That said, Noblesville is seeing a substantial increase of
migrants from one country in particular, Venezuela. Conservative estimates have placed several
thousand Venezuelan migrants who are already residing Noblesville. Through apartment complexes
like Promenade, Deer Chase, and 32/Union as well as rentals; the amount of migrants are rapidly
increasing. There is such an influx in migrants that local NGOs have met to find a response.
One such meeting was set up in July of 2024 by the CEO of Hamilton County Economic
Development (dba) Invest Hamilton County , Mike Thibideau, in an email to various NGOs and
government agencies, including the Fishers Health Department. He estimated, “conservatively…
expecting 600 per month”. In another meeting was held as a “crisis response” via Zoom in early
October of 24’. As one individual present for the meeting described the content as being about;
BMVs being inundated with migrants seeking driver’s licenses, migrants being in position of social
security numbers through the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) system, and also the Good
Samaritan Network having receiving more furniture requests for migrant families than they could
handle. Once enrolled as a refugee, the TPS system allows migrants to obtain an ID, social security
card, and I-94 forms which enable them to work and rent lodging. Migrants are able to do recieve
all of these without verifying the information the they provide to the government. This BMV
information aligns with a tipster that responded to a request for information email , stating that
Carmel’s BMV is seeing “many illegals trying to get licenses without documentation.” Carmel, whom
is also home to Park Lane apartments, which are reported also to be home to a large migrant
population is Noblesville’s neighbor by less than eight miles.The tipster also describes one or two
individuals “bringing dozens (of migrants) to the branch and dropping them off… and another
individual registering vehicles for illegals which are then actually driving them off the BMV lot.”
Due to the email from Mike Thibideau, records were requested from the Hamilton County
Community Foundation (HCCF), the Fishers Health Department , and Invest Hamilton County. HCCF
responded and then attempted to recall their email . This email they attempted to recall stated that
churches and schools were involved in the preparations for migrants. However, the Noblesville
Superintendent, Dan Hile, and multiple Churches denied any knowledge of involvement. The Fishers
Heath department, whom Mike Thibideau claimed was involved in the July meeting from the
original email, turned up zero emails from to a records request, searching for reference of said
meeting. Was Mike’s email dishonest in who was involved in the meeting, or was the Fishers Health
Department not providing the email known to exist, or was all the communication done through
private communication? In addition to this, Mike and Invest Hamilton County never responded to
inquiries or records requests regarding migrants. Why would HCCF and Invest Hamilton County not
respond, or what are they not willing to disclose to members of the public?
Another individual whom is involved with the Good Samaritan Network of Hamilton County
described two separate times in September 24’ when large groups of migrants arrived in the
Noblesville area. This person stated that of the first of the groups to arrive had about 200
individuals, and Good Samaritan was asked to supply more than 20 fully stocked school backpacks
for that group. This person also claimed the second group contained about 80 migrants and Good
Samaritan was once again asked to support these migrants. They received a request to provide four
families with furniture, which one family had more than a dozen members. This person also stated
that when these migrants arrived in the Wal-Mart parking lot off of US37 in Noblesville, they already
had transportation set up to various area apartment complexes where they already had living
accommodations arranged. There was questions as to the buses photographed in this same parking
lot in September as possibly dropping off these migrants, however the Mayor of Noblesville claimed
they were Beck’s Hybrids employees. It has been confirmed through a Beck’s employee that they
only use H2A work visas and only for seasonal work and it was done “a long time ago” as of
November. These buses could be Beck’s, but it is a very weak explanation at best.
The Good Samaritan Network and Invest Hamilton County are not the only NGOs or agencies that
have been involved in aiding and bringing migrants into Noblesville and the surrounding area.
Fortunately, Nancy Chance of Good Samaritan was wise enough to look for answers at the end of
the September 24’ for the influx she witnessed. However, Noblesville’s Mayor Chris Jensen was not
helpful and explicitly denied these events had happened despite the aforementioned situations,
even claiming Nancy was spreading lies. Mayor Jensen went so far to threaten another reporter
with “spreading misinformation” if they were to write anything about it. This lack of transparency
with the mayor continues to hinder discovering information regarding migrant relocation to
Noblesville. These denials continued with the mayor appointed Chief of Noblesville Police John Mann
despite a source describing regular conversations between that person and Noblesville Police
Department (NPD) detectives. This source even presented pictures of a neighboring rental property
with specific and suspicious activity that he had also shared with NPD.
Despite Chief Mann’s denial of any increase in migrants arriving in Noblesville, his detectives have
stated that the influx is NPD’s the highest concern. Chief Mann’s denial also doesn’t add up with the
crime numbers for the city, specifically those associated with 32/Union Apartments . According to
CityProtect.com and their crime data for Noblesville, 32/Union had 271 police calls to that complex
in the year 2024 alone. These included a shooting, theft, batteries, thefts of vehicles, and fights.
Looking at the quarterly break downs, police calls have risen quarter over quarter since 2023’s
fourth quarter. Nearly daily runs are logged showing “preventive policing” to the 32/Union
apartments. This means crime is so out of control in this complex that it necessitates NPD officers
to be visible daily to prevent more crime. It has also been reported that 32/Union is one of two
Noblesville apartment complexes with about 80% of their residents being Venezuelan. Noblesville’s
census data broken down by demographic shows that the area around 32/Union and Deer Chase
apartments have a remarkably higher amount of Hispanic residents than their neighboring areas.
This seems to substantiate the claims that residents of 32/Union are constantly bringing in more
mattresses and there are serious concerns regarding occupancy rates. There is so much concern
with the crime and occupancy of this complex that a Hispanic employee stated, “we don’t have a
Hispanic problem, we have a Venezuelan problem”.
Unfortunately, crime is still rising in other areas of Noblesville as well. The fourth quarter of 23’ saw
45 police calls to this complex and 62 calls in the forth quarter of 24’, without the last 20 days of
December being accounted for. During July-September’s third quarter of 24’, there were 79 police
calls. There were also 68 auto thefts this year, many of which took place in downtown Noblesville.
These auto thefts have been attributed to the Venezuelan migrants by local law enforcement. So
much so that the Tren de Aragua gang has been mentioned in multiple conversations with law
enforcement and Indiana Attorney General (AG) employees. Rising crime is to such an extent that
one law enforcement officer, who couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation, nodded when
asked if the Hoosier Armory break in might also be attributed to these migrants. Why is crime
happening more frequently in recent months? Why would Chief Mann deny everything despite this
publicly available data? If it is not and “influx” of migrants, then what is the explanation?
What other illegal activity could these migrants be bringing to this typically low crime town? Local
law enforcement is well aware of significant drug sales activity coming out of 32/Union as well. Not
to mention the disclosures of individuals having witnessed multiple of these deals take place. An
individual within the Attorney General’s circle described also described criminal situations where
Venezuelan migrants who were known to be illegally using DoorDash and UberEats delivery
accounts to gain access to affluent homes. They then use trail cameras to watch these homes to
find the best time to break in. This has then led to multiple home invasions in Hamilton county. It
was disclosed that these migrants are renting and buying food delivery accounts though a
WhatsApp group . This is very similar to what was reported as going on in the Dallas/Fort Worth
area in August 24’. Along with a homicide that occurred in 2023 on the north side of Noblesville that
was also attributed to a DoorDash delivery. This provides an image into the tactics which the
criminal element have previously used. All of this crime is likely what a Hamilton County Sheriff’s
deputy, who could not speak on an active investigation, when presented with the details of Mike
Thibideau’s email confirmed, “it’s true.”
To accompany these details, the number of Hispanic individuals housed at the Hamilton County Jail ,
is out of proportion with the Hispanic census numbers in Hamilton County (5.7%), of which
Noblesville (5.1%) is the county seat. As of the start of 2025 about 11% of the inmates are
obviously Hispanic, and many of those individuals were arrested on multiple violent charges and
never having been issued an ID. One jail employee has also described that the jail teaches English
to non-English speaking inmates, and all the students are Hispanic at this time. Which this
employee claims is not the normal situation.This in itself is not damning evidence, but it does add
more questions which the city leadership still wont answer about migrants moving into Noblesville,
and at least a portion of them bringing crime with them. It has also been claimed, by multiple
sources in and out of law enforcement that downtown businesses have also seen a significant rise
in thefts. Even local churches have had young adult Spanish speaking males, with very broken
English, walk up and ask for help. What was considered odd by church leadership was that these
men denied the offered food and clothing assistance only to demand cash. When that wasn’t
provided to them, they left visibly upset.
Noblesville’s mayor has denied any migrant increase without commenting on the evidence already
described here. The chief of police has also denied migrant questions without commenting on the
same evidence. Superintendent Dan Hile was also questioned about migrants in Noblesville Schools
and responded with what the mayor and NPD chief had already described. What is the reason that
Dan Hile would claim to be so unaware of any migrant activity happening within the school district
when the bus driver, at the beginning of the 24’ school year, for 32/Union Apartments had to be
changed to a bilingual driver due to the amount of non-English speaking students on the bus route?
There were so many students in this single apartment complex that they filled one entire bus of
high school students. According to other Noblesville bus drivers, this is not a normal number of
students for one complex. Ignorance doesn’t make sense when a school resource officer (SRO) also
described a situation where numerous Venezuelan students registering for school under one
address. If one bus is already full of high school migrants, and according to this SRO, elementary is
seeing the larger quantities of migrants, how many undocumented students is the school district
now serving?
The immigrant influx grant is helpful to help learn how many undocumented students could be in
Noblesville Schools. Noblesville received this grant for the 23’-25’ Title III (English Second
Language) allocations. Noblesville had a 65% increase of immigrant students from the 21’-22’ to
22’-23’ school years to make the total 204 students. When also looking into the Title III data,
Noblesville has increased from 449 ESL students in 21’ to 692 students in 24’ . Noblesville schools
had an 11% increase in Hispanic enrollment in 22’ and an 18% increase in 24’. This significantly
outpaces the other demographics within Noblesville schools. The Caucasian demographic steadily
decreasing and others being far outpaced in growth by Hispanics. This is a demographic shift due to
the increase in ESL and minority populations, led by Hispanics. Is the administration of Noblesville
Schools promoting an artificial demographic shift for more grant money? Even the Indiana
Department of Education has changed their webpage title from “English Learning Education” to
“ English Learning and Migrant Education ”. The superintendent should not be unaware of this
information, specifically related to Noblesville Schools, or be much more transparent with what he
does know.
Since learning about Mike Thibideau’s email, it was discovered that the Hamilton County
Commissioners signed a letter of support for relocating refugees to Hamilton County in 2019.
Exodus Refugee, a migrant assistance and relocation Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) made
a statement of appreciation for this letter of support. What’s more concerning is that Exodus
Refugee, who brought 884 new refugees to Indiana in 24’ as noted on their ‘about me’ page;
thanked only two other government entities for their support according to their press release . They
thanked the state of Indiana and the city of Indianapolis, along with the Hamilton County
Commissioners. When the only County Commissioner to not sign the letter, Mark Heirbrandt was
questioned about the letter of support, he seemed surprised that it was still active and then
changed why he didn’t sign it multiple times. Commissioner Heirbrandt immediately requested a
vote at the next meeting to withdraw this letter of support, which was voted in favor of. Why was
there a sudden change of heart and a race to fix it five years later, as soon as members of the
public found out about the letter? How can Noblesville’s mayor, chief of police, and school
superintendent not have any idea about migrants relocating to the area when this document has
existed for years?
Despite all the denials, there still is significant evidence that migrants are coming to Noblesville and
other parts of Hamilton County in mass. But how are they getting here and who is bringing them?
With Exodus Refugee publicly thanking Noblesville, and Invest Hamilton County creating a
discussion with other NGOs to address the migrants moving into the area, are NGOs apart of
relocating migrants into Noblesville? Are they paying for all of this relocation? When following the
money for these two organizations, several more NGOs are discovered to be involved. Upon digging
into these NGOs which support refugee resettlement and defending against deportation there are,
among others, HCCF , Church World Service , and several government offices are linked through
donations.
Begining with Exodus Refugee , they are “dedicated to the protection of human rights by serving the
resettlement needs of migrants and other displaced people”. Following their money, in 2020 and 21’
they received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans . Exodus received money from a 18’
established endowment valued at $533 and grants from the Central Indiana Community Foundation
(CICF) through the Indianapolis Foundation , Women’s Fund of Central Indiana , the Glick Fund ; as
well as other CICF partner foundations such as HCCF & the Crosser Foundation . Notably, HCCF also
received $58K from the City of Noblesville in 23’.They also received a grant from Eli Lilly in early 23’
for $1.2 million . Exodus gave $173 thousand for rent in 23’ and an additional $3.8 million for
personal assistance. Exodus even has weekly volunteer opportunities to set up apartments for
refugees. However, what is more striking are the government agencies that have given money to
Exodus Refugee through pass through donations . In 23’ the US Dept of HHS has donated a total of
$5.1 million through pass through donations through Indiana Family and Social Services
Administration ($2.1 million), Indiana Department of Health ($495 thousand) and Church World
Service (CWS) ($1.3 million). CWS has also donated $4.6 million from their own financials in 22’.
The US Dept of Homeland, US Dept of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and
the Office of Refugee Resettlement are also involved in millions of dollars of funding for CWS and
Exodus Refugee. Church World Service “welcome(s) refugees and asylum seekers with open hearts
and helping hands.” They also “ advocate for better policies, and (stand) in solidarity, (and help)
keep immigrant families together”. CWS has received over $186 million in government grants, some
of which is passed on to Exodus Refugee as previously mentioned. The State Department as
created a NGO organization called Welcome.us in the wake of the 21’ Afghanistan withdraw and the
refugee crisis. Welcome.us was even utilized at Camp Atterbury near Franklin, Indiana which
housed Afghan refugees . A project of CWS is the Refugee Welcome Collective (RWC) and is funded
by the US Dept of State. Organizations which RWC guides people to resources provided to migrants
have offices located throughout downtown Indianapolis. They include Catholic Social Services,
Center for Victim and Human Rights, Chicagoland Immigrant Welcome Network, Heartland Alliance
for Human Needs & Human Rights, Immigrant Welcome Center and several more. Of these, several
are based in Chicago where CICF has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to NGOs based
there, specifically the Heartland Alliance and the Immigrant Welcome Center. These two also
received over $1 million from Lilly Endowment Grants.
By following the money one can see that migrant resettlement and providing deportation defense is
very lucrative business with tens of millions of dollars being funneled from the Federal Government
into NGOs. The State of Indiana has served as a host to pass through donations and is therefore
not innocent of this situation either. It is not a stretch to conclude that Federal Government and by
proxy, the State of Indiana has been in the business of migrant resettlement, despite the increased
burden on local services and increased crime that has come with some of these migrants. The
extend of how much more the local services are being used, was described by one Noblesville
firefighter, as being significantly busier because of all the increased amount of people in the area.
Another reason migrant relocation cold be happening in Noblesville is the significant increase in
apartment complex development in recent years. Noblesville Economic Development office brags on
their website that they’ve created 13,500 new residential units since 2020 and has built their first
downtown apartment in over 100 years, then built or planned 5 additional downtown apartment
complexes. Although crime has come with this increase in migrants into the area, the increased
need for services also comes from those same migrants who are seeking to find gainful
employment despite their search for employment, some choose to do so illegally, though situations
like AG Rokita highlighted with Tyson Foods.
Todd Rokita, Attorney General of Indiana, recently addressed “a large scale influx of illegal aliens
and ‘legal migrants’ into local communities”. In November AG Rokita sent an civil investigative
demand to Tyson Foods in Logansport related to potential human labor trafficking. Could this also
be happening in Noblesville? Two employees at Meijer at IN 32 & Hazel Dell Pkwy, there are so
many Venezuelan employees in the morning that they would be able to be open without them.
Also, a frequent customer who’s had multiple conversations with Hispanics working at the
McDonalds at the same intersection stated that they told him they were also all from Venezuela.
This seems to corroborate what a resident at Promenade Apartments , near this intersection
described. The resident claimed that Venezuelans are living 10 or more to an apartment, and there
are at least 100 of them living in the complex. This seems to be backed up with the same
demographic map mentioned earlier that shows about 130 Hispanics residing the in the Promenade
area. This is significant because this complex is just a couple miles from the church previously
mentioned, which had money requested by migrants. This source also described that some of the
Venezuelans living at Promenade utilize DoorDash for employment. One can hope they’re not using
this employment in the same way as the aforementioned illegal activity. What other employment
might these migrants be utilizing? One nurse at Eskenazi hospital in Indianapolis, just 20 miles
away and the nearest medicaid hospital described many situations where a single Hispanic male
would bring in multiple young pregnant women to be treated. A majority of the time all of these
individuals were not English speaking. Might this be a sign that migrants are trafficking women as a
source of income as well, and could some be living in 32/Union? Illegal immigration has a cost,
about $886 million in Indiana , and it is quite the unfortunate situation that even those who don’t
bring crime still find illegal ways to get money and cost the taxpayers even more.
To review what we know; local NGOs have been planning a response for an influx in migrants, the
rising crime in the area, and and specifically at a particular apartment complex, law enforcement
officers have privately confirmed that there are too many incoming migrants, and the jails have an
increase in Hispanic inmates arrested with no issued ID on many of their arrest records. It’s also
known that homes are being broke into utilizing delivery companies and trail cameras, there have
been media reports of shootings locally where a delivery company was utilized, and a weapons
store where a stolen car was used in an attempted robbery. It’s documented that Noblesville
schools is having to adjust to the rising amount of migrants and receiving grants to fund the
increase in migrants, and alter bus drivers and routes. We also have significant documentation of
large NGOs funneling money from the Federal Government agencies into the local NGOs to relocate
migrants. There are also eye witnesses describing where some of these migrants are working,
where others are choosing illegal activities. However, the most concerning information of all is an
informant’s claim that a federal LPA grant being used by Noblesville has mandated sanctuary
policies. While attempting to prove or disprove this report, the City of Noblesville delayed providing
this information as requested by an Access to Public Records Act request. Why did it take
Noblesville three months to release the information from this request? Though they could have
been innocently slow in fulfilling the request, but could they be hiding something after three
months?
If they are hiding something, this would explain why Mayor Jensen so adamantly denied the
questions about a potential migrant influx, and why he had Superintendent Hile and Chief Mann
also deny any migrant increase. Beyond the public being energized to stop cities from being over
run by migrants, such as what has happened in Seymour and Logansport Indiana, as well as
Springfield Ohio, having sanctuary policies is an illegal act under Indiana Code 5-2-18.2 . If it is not
to cover up a criminal action, then why does the mayor deny all this evidence? What else does he
know? Could it have anything to do with the amount of new apartments being built by campaign
donors . When these complexes fill up, developers and city officials could claim they need to create
more apartments with more ‘donations’? Why would the Chief buy into this political nonsense
instead of putting public safety first and informing the public about the rising crime to prepare them
instead of panicking the public? Why would the superintendent be so closed lip about it when his
school district is receiving money for migrants and adjusting bus routes for them? Who else is
involved? Above all, the public should know what is the end goal of the parties involved.
This will be answered in time, but also it might be solved on its own. As President Trump takes
office and promises to deport the criminal migrants in a mass deportation and shutting down the
CBP One app , these migrants might choose to take matters in their own hands, and will self select
to move to a sanctuary state and solve the issues of crime and overwhelming of our public services.
President Trump’s election and tough border security policies might solve the issues in Noblesville
despite their local officials not addressing this issue. Though Indianapolis Public Schools have set up
groups to fight President Trump’s actions; ICE has already started removing the criminal element
within the migrants, and the CBP One app has already been taken down. We are seeing results in
the first week of Trump’s presidency already. Exodus Refugee is delaying, possibly permanently 120
migrants set to arrive next month in Indiana. AG Rokita has also sued St Joseph County Sheriff for
not following immigration laws as well. When President Trump’s policies are backed up by a strong
Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General; the possibility of migrant problems being solved
shines brightly.
M. Baxter
January 27, 2025
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