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County says it will not take part in immigration ‘roundups,’ warns of doctored images
Summary
New Castle County officials told the Public Safety Committee they have no assigned assets to federal HSI/ICE task forces, will not participate in planned immigration roundups, and warned the public about circulating photoshopped images; councilmembers urged quick community outreach when incidents arise.
At the Feb. 18 New Castle County Public Safety Committee meeting, Colonel Jamie Leonard said the county has no personnel assigned to large federal task-force operations and will not participate in immigration-style roundups.
“We are not participating in any immigration style roundups,” Leonard said, adding that the county will provide mutual-aid assistance “if they find themselves in situations where their life is in danger or other people's lives are in danger.” Leonard said the county has a part-time HSI-assigned officer pulled from a different project because of staffing needs and emphasized that large-scale federal operations are not planned with county involvement.
Leonard also warned the council about doctored images circulating on social media that purported to show federal immigration agents at local stops. He said the department traced at least one image to a photoshopped file and that the county has not been notified of any such coordinated operations. “Ultimately, when we ran it through photo verifies, we were able to prove that it was photoshopped,” Leonard said.
Council members urged rapid public-information and community-service responses when incidents cause fear in diverse neighborhoods. Councilman Carter said first-generation immigrant communities had legitimate concerns after a recent raid elsewhere and asked the county to deploy public-information and community-service staff to calm residents.
Councilman Koneko reminded members that people in the U.S. have constitutional protections and recommended that council members inform constituents of rights such as the right to remain silent and due-process protections.
Ending: County leaders said they will continue to coordinate with federal partners for mutual-aid situations that involve imminent danger, will not participate in immigration roundups, and will deploy information and community teams when neighborhood fears arise.
