Freshman State Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark) files a four-bill package aimed at protecting Delawareans’ civil liberties.
Rep. Gorman says these bills largely come due to the current political climate and actions announced by the Trump administration, particularly around his immigration policies and widespread deportation efforts.
“I remember some of the things that the Trump administration — the first Trump administration had done — that were restrictive of civil liberties, and I just wanted to make sure that I did what I could to prevent that from happening in this administration," Rep. Gorman said.
The legislative bundle includes two bills that would prohibit “citizen’s arrests” in Delaware, taking away outdated language from the early 1900s that currently allows private detectives to make such arrests.
The bills also remove language From Delaware Code that presently allows a private citizen to make an arrest if they have “reasonable information” that the accused has committed a felony in another state.
Rep. Gorman believes law enforcement will be supportive of these efforts in order to preserve safety and avoid, as co-sponsor State Sen. Marie Pinkney (D-Bear) notes, racially motivated actions from untrained citizens.
“You hear the president talking about kind of wanting to deputize people to help carry out things that he would like to do, and I'm uncomfortable with anyone who is not a trained law enforcement official doing that," Rep. Gorman said.
She also introduced legislation to prohibit civil arrests from being made in courthouses without a judicial warrant.
"Increased ICE presence at courthouses have kept victims and witnesses of crime from seeking necessary legal services that would make our communities safer," said the bill's co-sponsor State Sen. Laura Sturgeon (D-Woodbrook) in a statement. "These arrests make it harder for survivors to find justice and undermine the integrity of our legal system as a whole. At a time when civil liberties are being compromised across our nation, this legislation shows that Delaware is committed to maintaining justice and freedom for everyone who calls our state home."
Rep. Gorman says while she's been working on this bill since she entered office, she's concerned that new orders signed by President Donald Trump may effect the bill's enforceability if it were to be signed into law by Gov. Matt Meyer.
"I would really love to make sure that we can protect our courts and the people who work there and the people who are coming in for whatever reason because they are victims or whatever reason they need to be there," Rep. Gorman said. "I'm not totally sure that given some of the new executive orders in the current climate that we're going to be able to safely enact all the provisions of that law, which is, I think, really unfortunate."
Rep. Gorman's final bill would ban private prisons from operating in Delaware.
While there are currently no private detention facilities in the First State, Gorman notes the federal government’s immigration detention system relies heavily on private prison corporations and wants to keep Delaware from contributing to a system that is often not as well-regulated as state-operated detention facilities.
"While I realize we don't have private prisons here, I would like to make sure that we never do, and that just means that Delaware isn't a place where undocumented people are going to be held. It's not a place where we're going to have prisons that have those kind of violations of human rights, and I personally believe that making money — having for-profit prisons is a moral stain on our country, and I would love to see Delaware lead the way and say 'we're not going to do that,'" Rep. Gorman said.
She says while undocumented immigrants were at the forefront of her mind while crafting the bill package, she does believe there are various vulnerable communities that need more protections under the current federal administration.
"I do worry about the LGBTQ+ community. I worry about people deciding to take the law into their own hands when it comes to reproductive rights. And so my hope is that this is going to help all Delawareans feel safer and feel like Delaware is a place where they know that human rights and civil rights are respected," she said.
All four bills have been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee and await hearings as the legislature enters its final stretch before wrapping up its session on June 30.
