For months, immigration enforcement agents have sporadically arrested some Lake County and Porter County defendants without U.S. citizenship in the middle of their criminal cases, Indiana lawyers say.

That’s added an extra layer of uncertainty — sometimes leaving both their families and attorneys scrambling to find them.

When Horacio Alarcon-Roldan, 32, of Diamond, Illinois, showed up for a routine court hearing for stealing railroad ties in Porter County on Aug. 1, he was arrested by U.S. Homeland Security, federal filings show.

U.S. Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Jason Hines wrote that the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Transit Police — i.e., South Shore Line — notified them.

Defense lawyer Steve Mullins argued Alarcon-Roldan was a middleman in the

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