‘Fight federal overreach’: Delaware appeals federal judge’s order to surrender wage records for 15 businesses to ICE investigators

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Gov. Matt Meyer’s opposition to giving ICE investigators wage records for 15 Delaware businesses hasn’t changed, even after a federal judge ordered the state to provide the information last week.

Lawyers for the Delaware Department of Labor have filed a court motion to put the order on hold while the state appeals the ruling by Colm F. Connolly, chief U.S. District Judge for Delaware.

Attorney Jennifer Kate Aaronson, who represents the state, argued in the motion to Connolly that he was wrong to conclude that federal law permitting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to obtain the records outweighs Delaware’s right to withhold them from federal investigators.

“The U.S. Department of Labor ‘appreciates that states have valid reasons for maintaining [unemployment compensation] confidentiality laws that are stricter than those required by the rule,’” Aaronson wrote.

The state’s lawyer argued that Connolly did not address her previous argument that the U.S. Constitution’s “Supremacy Clause does not preempt [Delaware law] because the unemployment insurance system is premised on a federal-state partnership that invited Delaware to enact” confidentiality laws preventing disclosure of certain records.

Her motion to pause the order — which will be ruled on by Connolly — also predicted that the state’s appeal “has a substantial likelihood of success” in the protracted dispute that began in February 2025 when the Department of Homeland Security first issued a subpoena for the records.

An ICE investigator has said in court papers that the agency wants the records because agents had received tips that the companies were breaking the law.

Records detailing the names of the 15 companies are mostly redacted, but documents provided by the state to WHYY News under a public records request revealed that targets include the Perdue AgriBusiness facility in Seaford and two upstate businesses — a Mexican restaurant and a fence company.

The office of Delaware’s U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wallace had persuaded Connolly that ICE investigators had a right to the wage records, including employees’ Social Security numbers, from the businesses suspected of illegally hiring undocumented immigrants.

Connolly’s scathing 27-page order on April 13  also soundly rejected Delaware’s argument that producing the records would undermine the willingness of employers to report wage and employee data to the state and could “pose a significant risk to the solvency” of the state’s unemployment insurance fund.

That argument, Connolly ruled, did not pass “the straight-face test.’’ The judge had also refused to consider the state’s other chief complaint — that ICE is pursuing “an intense agenda of immigration enforcement” — ruling it’s not worth the time for his court to entertain.

“This is a political argument; not a legal one,” Connolly wrote, adding that the U.S. District Court is “not the proper forum in which to air generalized grievances about the conduct of government. It would be wholly inappropriate for me to consider this line of argument, and I decline to do so.”

Connolly has given Wallace’s office until May 5 to respond to the state’s bid to pause the order so the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals can consider the issue. Wallace had no comment on the state’s motion for a stay and plans to appeal.

Meyer and a chorus of fellow Democrats in the General Assembly, however, trumpeted the state’s decision to appeal in a news release this week.

Meyer, who told reporters last week that many of the 15 targeted businesses have “Spanish-language names,” would not speak with WHYY News for this story.

But in his new statement, the governor pledged to do everything in his power to prevent federal investigators from obtaining the records.

“I will continue to go as far as the law allows to fight federal overreach and unlawful immigration enforcement,” Meyer’s statement said.

“This is not a time to stand down but to step up for the most vulnerable in our community and to protect businesses and workers in our state.”

State Rep. Josue Ortega, who represents a heavily Latino district in Wilmington and its outskirts, applauded the governor and Attorney General Kathy Jennings for continuing to take a legal stand against “inhuman policies” of the Trump administration.

“Our communities are under attack and genuinely terrified. Fortunately, here in Delaware, we have leaders who are willing to stand between this administration and those we serve in order to protect them and their rights,’’ Ortega said. “But now is the time for us to do more than stand between the problem; We need to actively fight back against it.”

State Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton, who represents a section of Bear that she calls one of the state’s most diverse districts, agreed.

“Unfortunately, the Trump administration has put a target on the backs of many of my community members,” Wilson-Anton said.

“We’ve seen ICE come into the district multiple times, including our local Wawa, and folks are scared. And I’ve met with local school administrators who have noticed a drop in attendance of students. So, I think it’s really important for us to stand our ground to protect our communities.”

Should the appeal effort fail, Wilson-Anton said the state will “have to figure out other ways to protect them. But I don’t think we should be throwing in the towel and rolling over and playing dead.”