Delaware lawmakers could vote soon on a bill that would sharply limit where immigration arrests can happen in the state, after the Delaware House approved the measure 25-13 before the Easter recess. The legislation would bar civil arrests in courthouses and in Delaware Department of Labor offices where workers’ compensation hearings are held.
Mara Gorman, a Democratic state representative from Newark, is pushing the measure as one of two bills aimed at limiting immigration enforcement in Delaware. Under the proposal, a civil arrest would mean detaining someone outside criminal law enforcement or without a court order authorizing the detention.
The vote comes as the politics around immigration enforcement have shifted again. For decades, U.S. Department of Homeland Security guidance kept officers away from sensitive places such as schools, churches and hospitals. During President Joe Biden’s term, that policy was expanded to limit ICE and Customs and Border Protection activity inside or near courthouses. President Donald Trump revoked the directive after returning to office in January 2025, opening the door to arrests in places that had previously been treated as off-limits.
Gorman said arrests near courthouses can chill public participation in the legal system. “Lo que hemos visto en todo el país es que agentes del ICE detienen a personas a las afueras de los juzgados, a veces cuando se dirigen a declarar como testigos, a veces cuando acuden a una audiencia de custodia o a solicitar una orden de protección contra una pareja abusiva,” she said. She added that such arrests do more than affect one person, saying they send a message to the wider community not to appear in court, not to testify and not to seek legal protection.
The Delaware bill also seeks to restrict private prison operators in the state, putting it alongside a broader set of immigration-related changes adopted in Delaware last year. WHYY News analysis of government data processed by the Deportation Data Project found about 689 people were arrested by ICE agents in Delaware in 2025, up from 220 in 2024. Most of the arrests in 2025 were made on the street, while a minority took place in state prisons or probation offices.
That leaves the Senate with the next move. If senators advance the bill, Delaware could become one of the few states trying to redraw the boundaries of immigration enforcement even after the federal government pulled back the courthouse restrictions.
