Del. lawmakers push bills limiting ICE enforcement actions in the state

Marvin Mailey, executive director of the Delaware Association of Chiefs of Police, and Christine Kemp, president of the Delaware Fraternal Order of Police, said their organizations oppose these two bills and others sponsored by Lynn on immigration enforcement.

“We need to have the availability and the flexibility to be able to tend to emergent situations that could happen with our federal partners,” Kemp said. “I can tell you that there have been situations where the arrests that they were making in this community were done much safely by the information sharing and the assisting of our local partners.”

Lyle Dykstra, a retired pastor and community activist with the Poor People’s Campaign, said he supported the legislation.

“Church people are angry, upset because it is cruel and unkind, obviously not due process,” he said. “To willy-nilly pick up people because they’ve been profiled as appearing to be immigrants.”

Mat Marshall, spokesperson for Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings, said Jennings supports Lynn’s bills because they’re net positives on the issue. However, he said the state DOJ prefers House Bill 182 by Gorman, which prohibits law-enforcement agencies from entering into agreements with federal immigration authorities to enforce immigration violations or share related data.

“HB 182 is a stronger bill,” he said. “It covers a broader scope, enforcement plus information sharing, and it would make the policy mandatory and consistent rather than putting it at the discretion of the AG, whether AG Jennings or a future AG who may or may not be sympathetic with this position.”

Rep. Lynn has more pieces on immigration, which passed through the committee process earlier this year and are ready for a House vote.

• House Bill 95 would require the Delaware Department of Education, school districts and companies that store student data to obtain permission from the AG’s office before sharing that information with immigration enforcement agencies.
• House Bill 96 would require the state DOJ to submit a quarterly report to state officials detailing immigration-related requests from federal agencies.
• House Bill 58 bans a police officer from stopping or arresting an individual based solely on their actual or suspected immigration status, as well as bans an officer from asking about an individual’s immigration status.