DOVER, Del. - With days remaining before the 153rd Delaware General Assembly adjourns June 30, advocates continue urging lawmakers to advance immigration-related legislation.
Supporters say the bills are designed to provide additional protections for Delaware's immigrant community, while some law enforcement leaders have voiced opposition to one of the proposals.
Katy Castillo, the daughter of immigrants, said she believes state leaders can still take steps to address concerns within immigrant communities despite ongoing federal immigration enforcement.
"Although our hands might seem tied with what's going on federally, there is still a lot that leaders, whether at Leg[islative] Hall, organizational leaders, there's a lot that we can do to at least make sure that our families feel a little bit safer and that the trust is taken care of," Castillo said.
House Substitute 2 for House Bill 94, sponsored by Rep. Sean Lynn (D-District 31), would limit when local law enforcement agencies may cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in making arrests at certain locations, including colleges, health care facilities, and places of worship. The bill includes exceptions for urgent situations involving immediate safety risks.
House Substitute 1 for House Bill 368, sponsored by Rep. Mara Gorman (D-District 23), would prohibit local law enforcement from detaining or extending a person's detention based solely on an immigration detainer or civil immigration warrant. The bill includes exceptions, including for people who are convicted sex offenders or who have two or more DUI convictions.
The Delaware Association of Chiefs of Police has opposed House Bill 368. In May, the organization sent a letter to CoastTV outlining its opposition. In April, Executive Director Marvin Mailey said the bill could jeopardize federal funding for law enforcement agencies.
Helen Salita, immigrants campaign manager for the ACLU of Delaware, said advocates believe lawmakers should approve the legislation before the General Assembly adjourns.
"We will get these bills done because not passing them is not an option. What we really needed to have done was get these bills passed before this moment," Salita said. "We had two years to get these bills done, and unfortunately, because we were slow to act, ICE continued to operate. The problem continued, and we weren't making it easier for kids to go to school, or we were making it easy for our neighbors to be handed over to ICE."
Castillo encouraged people to contact their legislators and make their voices heard.
"We were able to pass pretty incredible bills like the ones preventing 287-g agreements, and I think it is very important for anybody and everybody that feels even slightly affected by what's going on federally to go to our local legislators and let them know what they can do to make us feel better," Castillo said.
Both bills still require Senate floor votes before they can be sent to Gov. Matt Meyer.
