SCRANTON — A North Pocono area mother described to Lackawanna County commissioners Wednesday a frightening late-November experience she and her adopted daughter had with federal immigration agents in North Scranton.
Sarah Balmer of Covington Twp. — one of many speakers at Wednesday’s meeting who addressed a proposed ordinance that would prohibit the county’s cooperation in federal immigration enforcement — told commissioners she and her husband adopted their daughter, Lily Mei Balmer, from China in 2009. Neither husband nor wife are “leftist lunatics or paid agitators,” Sarah Balmer said, noting they “were lifelong Republicans” who last year “became increasingly uncomfortable with ICE’s tactics.”
While walking to their car on the morning of Nov. 29, Balmer said she and her daughter, a U.S. citizen, witnessed “armed men in tactical vests” approach a home from all directions.
“I had my daughter lock herself in the car, then took out my phone and started recording,” she said, noting the agents eventually left without taking anyone into custody after questioning an occupant. “As they walked away, they noticed me with my phone. They condescendingly waved, took my picture and videoed me. I can only assume I’ve now been entered into an enemy-of-the-state-slash-woke-leftist database. I do not think I’ve ever been more afraid in my life. My daughter was unable to speak for two hours, and later told me she thought they were going to shoot her mom.”
Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak looks on during the commissioners’ meeting at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
An emotional Balmer went on to say that she and her husband first had their daughter, a Scranton Prep senior, keep pictures of her passport and “certificate of citizenship” on her phone. After hearing stories of immigrants having their phones seized by ICE before they could show proof of citizenship, they had her start carrying her physical passport on her person.
“We live in the United States of America,” Balmer said before holding up a framed photo of her daughter. “We are a nation of immigrants. My daughter is a beautiful, intelligent, kind and gentle human being. She is a senior in high school. She is the absolute light and joy in our life. She belongs here. … She should not be worried about being detained by her own government for not matching her last name. This is not normal. This is not OK. We cannot allow this to be OK.”
Balmer went on to praise Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan for his proposed “Protect Our Neighbors Act” ordinance that, among other features, would bar county employees and agencies from assisting with federal immigration enforcement.
Under the proposed ordinance, unless presented with a “valid and properly issued judicial warrant,” the county would not permit federal immigration agents to access a person in the county’s custody, would not transfer any person to federal immigration agents, would not spend time responding to ICE or federal Customs and Border Protection inquiries and would not permit agents from either agency to use county facilities, information or equipment for investigative purposes related to immigration enforcement.
It would not prevent ICE or other federal agencies from enforcing immigration law in the county, but would bar the county from helping or assisting in that enforcement.
Commissioners took no official action on the proposal Wednesday amid an ongoing legal review of the legislation. But debate about the ordinance specifically and immigration enforcement more broadly again dominated the public comment portion of the meeting, with speakers on different sides of those issues making their positions clear.
Len Dobrzyn, of Peckville, expresses his support of the current immigration policies enforced by ICE at the Lackwanna County Commissioners Meeting at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Scott Twp. Supervisor Michael Giannetta, a former Republican commissioner candidate, said 77 million people voted in 2024 to “close the border, finish the wall and deport the illegal aliens that were allowed to come into this country under President (Joe) Biden with a wide-open border.” The 77 million figure roughly reflects President Donald Trump’s popular vote total in the 2024 presidential election.
“The majority rules in this country, and that’s what the American people voted for and that’s what’s going on,” Giannetta said. “I don’t want to see Lackawanna County become a sanctuary county. I think that the county, local officials, should be working with federal law enforcement. That’s how people are kept safe. … I think we’re much better off cooperating with federal law enforcement officials than working against them.”
The meeting’s public comment period lasted more than an hour, largely monopolized by immigration-related debate and discussion. It preceded the portion of the meeting where commissioners can deliver their own commentary, with Wednesday’s session culminating in an acrimonious exchange between Gaughan and fellow Democratic Commissioner Thom Welby in particular.
Lackawanna County Commissioners Bill Gaughan and Thom Welby confer during the commissioners’ meeting at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Gaughan first harangued Welby and Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak over a county communications policy he claims is meant to silence him before returning to the immigration issue and reiterating his support for the proposed county ordinance. Evoking the rise of Nazism in Germany while defending the proposal, a comparison he said he wasn’t making lightly, Gaughan warned “we are headed down the road of fascism and authoritarianism.”
“As I sat up here today for some of the speakers, I disagree with them but I feel bad for them, because they’ve been convinced by Fox News and by President Trump and by all these other right-wing nuts that we should be afraid of immigrants,” Gaughan said. “No, we should be afraid of our rights as American citizens just being completely trampled over, because by the time everybody wakes … up in this country, I’m afraid it might be too late. I don’t think it’s too late yet, but if we don’t wake up and do something it’s going to be too late.”
Gaughan, who also discussed his opposition to data center development, ended his remarks with a pointed allusion to the communications policy controversy.
“And hopefully, if my colleagues agree — if they review what I just said and they look it over and sanitize it or do whatever else they want with it — we can post what I just said on social media,” he said. “But we’ll need their approval first before we can do that.”
The Lackawanna County Commissioners Meeting is held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, February 18, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Welby, who defended the recent communications edict as a reimplementation of past policy, said he’s baffled by “some of the other things that Commissioner Gaughan has gone on about” and agrees with others.
He called certain actions by federal immigration agents “reprehensible,” but also worries that “waving a flag that we are a sanctuary area,” particularly with Scranton being Biden’s boyhood hometown, could provoke a “frightening” reaction from Trump.
“When I was a lot younger sometimes I was reminded sometimes it’s best to keep your mouth shut and your head down,” Welby said, clarifying later that concern won’t impact his vote on the potential ordinance that remains under review.
Welby also said he’s “somewhat concerned about what sometimes seems like deflection” by Gaughan, mentioning thereafter the roughly 33% 2025 tax increase Gaughan and former Commissioner Matt McGloin begrudgingly approved in late 2024 and alleged accuracy issues with the county’s recent reassessment. He also alluded to Gaughan’s support for independent candidate Michael Cappellini in last year’s special election for commissioner that Welby won.
“I know Commissioner Gaughan calls himself the minority commissioner,” Welby said. “I don’t understand that. I know that with his not getting his rubber stamp as his county commissioner that he campaigned so hard for that he has a real challenge, a real difficulty, dealing with it.”
Gaughan attempted to respond after Welby concluded his remarks, but Welby and Chermak quickly adjourned the session. Gaughan continued to speak as Chermak left the room and Welby left the dais.
“This is like Russia,” Gaughan said before accusing Welby of being a rubber stamp for Democratic state Sen. Marty Flynn, whose political committee contributed $100,000 to Welby’s campaign in last year’s special election.
Full video of Wednesday’s commissioners meeting is available online via ECTV’s YouTube channel.