Delaware’s congressional delegation invites guests to State of the Union to highlight opposition to ICE crackdown, cuts to health care funding

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Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester is using her plus-one to Tuesday night’s State of the Union address to highlight her opposition to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.

Immigration advocate Maria Mesias-Tatnall is Blunt Rochester’s guest to the president’s speech. As director of outreach and immigration assistance at the Delaware Department of Justice, she was key to negotiating the release of a Delaware mother of two from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.

The Democratic U.S. senator said Delaware residents suspected of being undocumented are being subjected to harsh enforcement actions, similar to reports out of other states around the country.

“What we wanted to highlight at the State of the Union was that a year later, things are not better,” Blunt Rochester said. “They’re not better as it pertains to costs for people and as it pertains to the fear that it is created in communities where even our local law enforcement have had to feel an erosion of trust.”

Mesias-Tatnall told reporters Tuesday about the attempted deportation of Sussex County resident Isabella, who was detained by ICE last year. Isabella is a nickname to protect her identity.

Isabella, a domestic violence survivor, has requested legal status through a U visa. It is set aside for victims of certain crimes, such as domestic violence and sexual assault, who are helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of criminal activity.

Isabella’s ex-husband stabbed her in 2019. She helped police catch him and deport him back to Central America and has been granted temporary legal status in the U.S.

But last year, Mesias-Tatnall said ICE agents broke down Isabella’s door without a judicial warrant and detained her and her brother. Isabella was flown to Louisiana.

“For about a month, Isabella is left on an inch-thick mattress in cells where the detainees were mistreated with a level of evilness and cruelty that is uncool and unjustified,” Mesias-Tatnall said.

Isabella was set to be deported back to her native country, where her abuser could have been waiting to greet her. But with help from Mesias-Tatnall and the Community Legal Aid Society, Inc., Delaware Department of Justice attorneys convinced federal agents to release her. She is now back in Delaware with her children after Mesias-Tatnall flew to Louisiana to pick her up. But she said the family is still coping with the trauma.

“How do you tell children, ‘That’s not going to happen’ or ‘That’s not going to happen again’ — because it can happen,” Mesias-Tatnall said. “It can happen to any of us.”

Other guests

Congresswoman Sarah McBride, also a Democrat, is bringing the head of the Delaware Department of Justice, Attorney General Kathy Jennings, who has filed dozens of lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s moves to freeze funding to the state.

“Delaware families deserve leaders who will stand up to the cruelty of this administration, fight to lower costs and uphold the rule of law,” McBride said in a statement.

Jennings praised Mesias-Tatnall’s work supporting immigrant communities.

“Our attendance together is a reminder that all of our work — whether it’s as federal representatives, state attorneys general, or advocates on the ground — is inherently connected,” Jennings said in a statement. “When it comes to standing up for Delaware and Delawareans, it takes all of us.”

U.S. Sen. Chris Coons has invited Dr. Neil Hockstein, chair of the Delaware Health Care Commission, to the State of the Union as his guest. Coons touted the physician in a news release as “a fighter for access to affordable health care.” The Republican tax bill passed last year cut funding for nutrition funding for low-income Americans and Medicaid.