Delaware

Federal judge says Delaware labor officials must give data to ICE

Published

3 weeks ago

April 14, 2026

Federal judge says Delaware labor officials must give data to ICE

A federal judge in Wilmington has ordered the Delaware Department of Labor to hand over confidential state employer data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators.

On April 13, U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly ordered Delaware labor officials to comply with a federal immigration subpoena they had “ignored,” writing that the state lacked legal grounds to resist it and that its political arguments were “wholly inappropriate.”

The subpoena seeks wage reports and employee rosters containing confidential employee information for 15 businesses and sought by ICE investigators as part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

Attorneys representing the state’s Department of Labor justified their noncompliance by arguing that local and federal regulators give state officials the authority to refuse federal investigators’ requests. They warned that allowing ICE to access employer data would discourage reporting and weaken the unemployment insurance program.

Local federal attorneys representing ICE argued the department is legally required to hand over the data targeting businesses that tip-line reports put under suspicion of employing undocumented individuals. In court filings, they said the state’s refusal to comply amounts to a legally unsound disagreement with federal immigration policy.

The arguments: Federal judge questions Delaware’s attempt to sidestep ICE subpoena

The contested subpoena was the last in a series that went unanswered by state labor officials during the first quarter of 2025. The subpoenas themselves are not legally confidential. However, Connolly, the presiding judge, sealed the final subpoena – the one at issue in the case – after federal officials sued the state to force compliance.

The state has produced redacted copies of some of the initial subpoenas to Delaware Online/The News Journal via a Freedom of Information Act request. Those early subpoenas targeted a Perdue facility in Seaford as well as a fencing company and a Mexican restaurant in northern New Castle County.

The final subpoena seeks data on the employees of 15 state businesses for the final two quarters of 2024 and is the subject of the current court wrangling. Connolly also denied the state’s argument that the document be unsealed so the businesses could exercise a right to fight the subpoena in court.

Breaking down the ruling

In assessing whether to enforce the subpoena, Connolly said the threshold question was whether it served a legitimate purpose, sought relevant information, and was not “unduly broad or burdensome.”

Connolly wrote that the investigation pertained to businesses suspected of employing undocumented people, which is in the scope of the agency that issued the subpoena, that the information sought is relevant to that inquiry and that it would not be “unduly burdensome” for the state to copy the 30 records sought by the subpoenas.

Connolly, who is the court’s chief judge and was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018, also shot holes in what he described as the state’s “novel theory” that production of such records would endanger the state’s unemployment insurance program.

“I am neither willing nor able to adopt DDOL’s cynical view of the State’s employers,” Connolly wrote.

Editor’s note: The judge’s ruling can be read at the end of this article.

Having decided that, he turned to the question of whether the Department of Labor had proved the enforcement of the subpoenas would “undermine the integrity of the judicial process.”

The state argued that enforcement of the subpoena would step on confidentiality regulations in the state’s statue and that the subpoena flows from an “improper purpose” described as an “intense agenda of immigration enforcement.”

Prior coverage: Delaware to fight ICE, Trump administration demands for local businesses’ employee lists

Connolly ruled that the regulations do not override the subpoena power. He wrote that the state’s argument painting the subpoena as improper because of the current intensity around immigration enforcement is a “political argument, not a legal one.”

“This Court is not the proper ‘forum in which to air [DDOL’s] generalized grievances about the conduct of government,’ Connolly wrote. “It would be wholly inappropriate for me to consider this line of argument, and I decline to do so.”

Trump’s deportation agenda and Delaware

The legal fight is part of the front in Trump’s ever-expanding deportation agenda, which has seen the federal government seek new ways to leverage states’ and other datasets in its immigration roundups.

Trump, with the help of Congress, ballooned Immigration and Customs Enforcement funding nearly six-fold from $12 billion in the previous fiscal year to $75 billion in his budget legislation last year.

Recent: ICE detained a toddler in Delaware as arrests topped 500

The agenda has included workplace and neighborhood raids by masked ICE agents, arrests at jobs and courthouses, incidents resulting in deaths, fast‑tracked deportations and allegations of racial profiling and inhumane detention practices lacking due process.

In Delaware, ICE has more quietly doubled its number of detainments through October of last year compared with the year prior, rounding up more people in street arrests along with four children.

This is a breaking story and updates will follow.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com.

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Delaware

3rd victim dies following quadruple shooting in Wilmington, Delaware

Published

9 hours ago

May 7, 2026

Press Room

3rd victim dies following quadruple shooting in Wilmington, Delaware

Thursday, May 7, 2026 9:09PM

WILMINGTON, Del. (WPVI) — A third victim has died following a March shooting in Wilmington, Delaware.

Police identified her on Thursday as 37-year-old Gina Tiberi.

She was one of four people shot when a gunman opened fire on North Adams Street on the afternoon of March 24.

A 19-year-old and a 21-year-old died shortly after the shooting.

Tiberi was initially critically wounded along with a 36-year-old man.

Authorities have not announced any arrests or a possible motive.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact Detective Brendan Shea at (302) 576-3649.

You can also provide information to Delaware Crime Stoppers at 1-800-Tip-3333 or Delawarecrimestoppers.com

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Delaware

Bill to create film tax credit clears Delaware House committee

Published

21 hours ago

May 7, 2026

Press Room

Bill to create film tax credit clears Delaware House committee

A Delaware bill creating a film production tax credit cleared its first hurdle May 6, advancing out of the House Revenue & Finance Committee.

Several states offer film and television production tax credits and other incentives to lure projects, often to boost jobs, tourism and visibility.

Delaware does not – at least for now.

The proposal mirrors a recommendation in Delaware’s 5% operational spending growth and accompanying revenue plan, released alongside Gov. Matt Meyer’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, and would put the state in line with most of the country.

What does the bill do?

Backed by House Majority Leader Kerri Evelyn Harris, this House bill would create a new film production tax credit for the First State.

Delaware remains one of a few states that does not already have a film tax credit or a similar incentive in place, according to the Dover Democrat.

This means that spending in these sectors – from hotel stays to equipment rentals – is going to other states.

And while other revenue streams have served and continue to serve Delaware well, Harris said, it is also crucial to ensure the state is positioned “for the next generation of economic growth.”

The bill would offer eligible productions – including films, TV shows and video games — a nonrefundable tax credit equal to 30% of qualified expenses, usable against personal income and corporate taxes.

To qualify, companies must show their activities resulted in expenditures more than $500,000 during any consecutive 12-month period. They must also present opportunities to Delawareans to come onboard projects as interns.

Companies must also obtain “an independent audit” out of their own pockets, authenticating eligible expenses. These expenses can include any cost tied back to production, pre-production or post-production that took place within state lines.

These credits would also be transferrable – so long as they are approved by the state Division of Small Business – and can be extended for upwards of five years.

This bill mirrors a similar proposal included in a presented 5% operational spending growth and adjoining revenue plan.

The plan set aside up to $10 million in new revenue for a film tax credit to spur Delaware’s creative economy, though the actual cost would depend on how many productions apply.

Should this bill become law, the state will have a similar cap at $10 million every year, according to Harris.

This isn’t the first time lawmakers have seen this legislation.

In the hours before last year’s session ended, state Rep. Michael Smith backed a bill that would also establish a film tax credit for Delaware.

Also known as the Delaware Entertainment Job Act, the bill would have also established a 30%, “transferable tax credit for an investment in the state” for qualified productions.

Like its legislative relative, the bill would have required productions to bring First State residents as interns to qualify for this credit, as well as produce an audit of expenditures once production has wrapped.

Doing this, the bill argued, would spur job creation, artistic ventures and investment in the media industry.

The bill was also assigned to the House Revenue & Finance Committee, but did not advance. Smith signed on as a co-prime sponsor of this latest bill, according to Harris.

Former Rep. Valerie Longhurst introduced a near-verbatim measure to Smith’s bill back in 2022, but it did not make it all the way through the House.

What do lawmakers, Delawareans think?

For the most part, committee members were receptive to the bill.

Rep. Kendra Johnson was enthusiastic about the bill, asking to come on board as a co-signer of the bill.

She pointed to the HBO crime drama series “Task,” whose entire second season is scheduled to be filmed entirely in southeastern Pennsylvania, starting July 6.

Delaware’s neighbor state was reportedly investing $49.8 million into the project – the largest tax credit bestowed by the state to a single production, as reported by WHYY last year.

The projection is also set to create 3,700 jobs and infuse $194.1 million back into its economy.

Pennsylvania’s current tax credit program offers a 25% to 30% credit to productions that spend no lesser than 60% of their total funds within state lines.

“Imagine the economic growth that is happening there, that could be happening here,” Johnson told the panel.

Others have thrown their support behind bringing a film tax credit to Delaware.

Meyer is one such advocate. He mentioned during his State of the State address that Delaware not offering film tax credits made no sense, considering the latest Superman movie is “literally set” in the First State.

“They should be shooting here,” he said. “We’re just going to let so many other neighboring states soak up all of that Hollywood money?”

Other groups, including the Delaware Arts Alliance and the Delaware Hotel & Lodging Association, have also thrown their support behind the bill, Harris said.

What happens now?

The bill will continue to move through the House.

If signed into law, it would take effect starting July 1, the first day of the new fiscal year.

But lawmakers will need to move quickly – they only have until June 30 to have it passed in both chambers. Otherwise, they’ll need to start all over again come next session.

Olivia Montes covers state government and community impact for Delaware Online/The News Journal. If you have a tip or a story idea, reach out to her at omontes@delawareonline.com.

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Delaware

Motorcyclist dies in Ogletown crash as traffic deaths surge in Delaware

Published

1 day ago

May 6, 2026

Press Room

Motorcyclist dies in Ogletown crash as traffic deaths surge in Delaware

A 34-year-old Newark motorcyclist has died following an evening crash May 5 in Ogletown, Delaware State Police said.

The motorcyclist’s name was withheld by police on May 6 until his family could be notified.

The Ogletown crash is one of six fatalities that have plagued officials across the state since May 4, according to the Delaware Department of Transportation. Officials added that between the night of May 5 into the morning of May 6, was the deadliest 12 hours on Delaware roads in nearly six years.

“It’s certainly alarming to have more than 15% of our total fatalities to date this year happen over the past four days,” C.R. McLeod, a DelDOT spokesman, told Delaware Online/The News Journal.

Other fatal crashes that occurred in that 12-hour span include:

A motorcycle crash in Stanton that left a 29-year-old Wilmington man dead when he ran a red light and his Harley-Davidson Sportster struck a Nissan Rogue at the Churchmans Road intersection with Center Pointe Plaza about 7:20 p.m. May 5, Delaware State Police said.
A crash in Dover that killed a 26-year-old woman who struck a tree about 1 a.m. May 6, Dover police said.
A 23-year-old Millsboro woman was killed when she failed to navigate a curve on Coastal Highway north of Lewes about 1:30 a.m. May 6, Delaware State Police said.

As of May 6, DelDOT was reporting 38 traffic fatalities on Delaware roads – a 27% jump from last year at the same time.

Ogletown crash

As the man was riding a Honda CBR east on Christiana Road toward Harmony Road, police said, an Audi Q5 was turning left from westbound Christiana Road into McIntosh Plaza.

For reasons still under investigation, the Honda struck the Audi’s passenger side about 6 p.m., police said. This caused the motorcyclist to be ejected.

The motorcyclist was taken to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Audi’s driver, a 37-year-old Bear man, did not report any injuries, police said.

Troopers are asking anyone with information about the Ogletown crash to contact investigators at (302) 365-8483. Information may also be provided by sending a private Facebook message to the Delaware State Police or by contacting Delaware Crime Stoppers at (800) 847-3333.

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