Last October, the U.S. Justice Department designated Delaware as a “sanctuary jurisdiction” based on “actions and policies that materially impede the enforcement of federal immigration statutes and regulations.” Since then, Delaware House and Senate Democrats have worked to double down on that status.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives passed two bills intended to further limit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the First State.
The first bill, House Substitute 2 for House Bill 94 (as amended), sponsored by House Majority Leader Kerri Evelyn Harris (D-Dover East), restricts Delaware law enforcement officers from directly participating with ICE agents conducting civil immigration enforcement at certain sites, including healthcare facilities, colleges or universities, places of worship, public and private schools, and daycare centers. The bill passed 27 to 14, along party lines.
The second bill approved by the House and sent to the Senate was House Substitute 2 for House Bill 151, a measure that seeks to prohibit state and local officials from entering into any agreements with privately operated detention facilities. Prime sponsor of the legislation, State Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark), introduced the first version of the measure last May.
ICE reportedly contracts with private detention facilities in more than two-dozen states, using them to house approximately 80% of its immigration law violators during processing.
While HS 2 for HB 151 would not entirely close the door to private detention centers operating in Delaware under contract to the federal government, it would make it more difficult for them to do so. If enacted, the law would not apply to Dover Air Force Base, which is under federal jurisdiction.
Also on Thursday, three new House bills related to ICE operations were filed.
House Bill 368 would prohibit holding any person solely based on an immigration detainer or a civil immigration warrant. It would largely bar any Delaware law enforcement agency from cooperating with federal immigration authorities to enforce civil immigration law.
House Bill 366 seeks to ban local, state, and federal law-enforcement officers from wearing facial coverings such as balaclavas, ski masks, or tactical masks that obscure the face. The measure includes exceptions for undercover operations and exigent circumstances. House Bill 367 would require all law enforcement officers to display identification while performing enforcement duties, with limited exceptions. Both measures are sponsored by Rep. Gorman.
ICE agents often obscure their identities during enforcement operations. As noted in a recently updated NOLO article: “In July 2025, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told CBS News that he wasn’t a proponent of agents wearing masks, but he would allow it to keep ICE agents and their families safe.” Some ICE agents have had their personal information and photos of their homes and families posted online without their permission — a practice called “doxxing” — as a means of harassment and intimidation.
HB 366, HB 367, and HB 368 are pending action in the House Judiciary Committee.
