ACLU Del. Calls Gov. Meyer to Issue Guidance on Police/ICE Collaboration

DELAWARE – The American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware (ACLU-DE) issued an open letter to Governor Matt Meyer on Thursday, requesting renewed guidance for state and local law enforcement on when they can assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations.

The letter comes after the Seaford Police Department assisted ICE on Nov. 6 in detaining a suspect, since identified as Carlos Chaj-Gonzalez. Seaford’s involvement in the apprehension caused a stir, as previous statements from the Meyer Administration indicated that state and local authorities would not assist ICE “unless there are a valid court warrant and an exigent circumstance where the community is at risk.”

“The Seaford Police Department does not participate in any civil immigration enforcement,” said Seaford Police Chief Tyler Justice in a previous statement after the incident. “We do assist federal partners as we would with any state or federal government that’s in our jurisdiction.”

However, answers from local law enforcement were not enough to quell the concerns of the ACLU-DE and other Delawareans.

“It is still unclear whether ICE possessed a valid judicial warrant for Chaj-Gonzalez, nor is it known if state and local law enforcement requested to see a warrant. ICE has stated that Chaj-Gonzalez was detained because he was an ‘illegal alien’ who had previously entered the country, but has yet to provide evidence that they had the legal right to detain him,” the ACLU-DE said in a statement.

In the letter to Governor Meyer, the ACLU-DE outlined the prior actions taken by the State of Delaware to mitigate state and local law enforcement’s involvement in ICE operations. Most notably, Delaware banned 287(g) agreements between ICE and state and local law enforcement agencies back in July.

“The incident in Seaford illustrates that despite these meaningful steps, the rules around when and how our state and local law enforcement cooperate with ICE remain murky. That is why your office must act immediately to issue firm guidance outlining how all Delaware agencies interact with ICE. Without clear guidance, inconsistent responses from state and local agencies risk undermining public safety by decreasing trust in law enforcement and diverting resources away from programs that keep our communities safe. We also run the risk of Delaware being unintentionally dragged in to the federal administration’s immigration enforcement regime under backdoor, misleading pretenses that state and local law enforcement must respond to public safety threats where none actually exist.

Clear guidelines will allow Delaware law enforcement to systematically verify ICE requests before responding or providing assistance and afford the public transparency regarding state and local law enforcements’ role in future ICE actions. It will also help to ensure that state and local law enforcement are only providing assistance to ICE if there is a clear and verifiable emergency public safety threat that could lead to harm or injury for members of the public. Failure of ICE to meet established guidelines should result in Delaware law enforcement’s refusal to provide assistance.”

The ACLU-DE has requested a response be given by Thursday, Nov. 20.

To read the full letter, click here.