The chairman of the Lackawanna County Board of Commissioners said he expects action Wednesday on a tabled policy proposal setting protocols for potential county interactions with federal immigration agents.
Commissioner Chairman Thom Welby and fellow Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan were still discussing Monday potential changes to the proposal they tabled April 1, after public speakers largely panned it as an insufficient alternative to the “Protect Our Neighbors Act” ordinance Gaughan proposed in early February.
While it was mostly unclear Monday what changes the updated policy proposal might reflect, Welby said it will include added language barring commissioners from entering into 287(g) agreements with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement on the county’s behalf. The controversial agreements between ICE and state and local law enforcement agencies grant designated officers limited authority to enforce federal immigration law and perform certain duties otherwise reserved for federal agents.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Thom Welby listens to a speaker during the commissioners’ meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
In the context of debate over the policy, Welby assured the standing-room-only crowd at the April 1 meeting that the current board of commissioners will never approve a 287(g) agreement with ICE. County District Attorney Brian Gallagher and Sheriff Mark McAndrew, both independently elected Democratic county row officers, later confirmed that their offices won’t enter into those agreements either.
Nonetheless, many public speakers who criticized the ultimately tabled policy — which would establish procedures for employees to follow if ICE or other law enforcement officials appear at county facilities — said it didn’t go far enough.
The version proposed earlier this month would effectively restrict working county employees from interacting with ICE agents without consulting a superior and the county solicitor. Unlike Gaughan’s proposed Protect Our Neighbors ordinance, which commissioners have yet to formally introduce, it didn’t include language prohibiting voluntary cooperation with ICE or other agencies tasked with enforcing immigration law.
“In my opinion this proposal does not protect the immigrant and refugee populations in our county,” Scranton resident Jenny Gonzalez told commissioners April 1. “In the new policy proposal there is absolutely zero language about, one, limiting county employees from voluntarily asking individuals about their citizenship or immigration status, and two, limiting county officials from assisting with immigration enforcement.”
She’s among those who’ve packed commissioners meetings in recent months to advocate for Gaughan’s ordinance, which aims to explicitly bar the county and its employees from assisting ICE in most circumstances. The anti-commandeering doctrine rooted in the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from forcing states, counties or other local governments to help enforce federal immigration law, giving the county discretion over the extent to which it cooperates in that enforcement.
“Federal law does not mandate Lackawanna County’s cooperation with ICE’s discretionary requests,” county Solicitor Paul James Walker noted in a February memo to commissioners. “The County may not restrict communication with ICE regarding an individuals’ immigration status … but otherwise has discretion in determining the extent of cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, subject to constitutional and statutory limitations, and of course, legally enforceable warrants.”
Walker later warned in a subsequent memo that passage of Gaughan’s ordinance could result in civil and even criminal liability for the county and county officials, among other issues. They’re concerns Welby referenced April 1, before reluctantly voting with Gaughan to table the alternative policy he’d put forward.
Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan looks on during the commissioners’ meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Reached Monday, Gaughan said he recently worked with the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition on potential changes to the tabled policy that he sent to Welby last week for review. He planned to keep discussing those potential changes with Welby, but said they’d more or less restore the proposal to an original version Welby circulated internally in March.
Gaughan, who said he’d be more inclined to support that original policy proposal than the ultimately tabled version that appeared on the April 1 meeting agenda, is encouraged by the continued dialogue.
“The whole goal of this thing was just to put guardrails in place and a policy so that our employees know what to do in the event that ICE is more active, at least in terms of county government,” he said. “I think this is a good development, and at the end of the day we’re just trying to not only protect our employees but, more importantly, protect the people that live in Lackawanna County.”
Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak listens to public comment during the commissioners’ meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, March 18, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak said at the April 1 meeting he’d “never agree to a policy that would even appear to limit law enforcement from legally doing their job or that would prevent Lackawanna County or its employees from complying with the legitimate actions of federal, state and local authorities.”
Chermak reiterated that position when reached Monday.
County officials should post the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting online Tuesday morning. It will be available via the county’s website, lackawannacounty.org.
The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the fifth-floor conference room of the county government center in downtown Scranton.