{"id":154692,"date":"2026-04-01T21:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/154692\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T21:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T21:14:11","slug":"lackawanna-county-commissioners-table-proposed-policy-on-potential-ice-interactions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/154692\/","title":{"rendered":"Lackawanna County commissioners table proposed policy on potential ICE interactions"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCRANTON \u2014 Lackawanna County\u2019s Democratic commissioners tabled a vote on a proposed policy<\/a> setting protocols for potential interactions with federal immigration agents after critics panned it for not going far enough.<\/p>\n

Some public speakers at Wednesday\u2019s marathon meeting dismissed the policy as an insufficient alternative to the \u201cProtect Our Neighbors Act\u201d ordinance Democratic Commissioner Bill Gaughan proposed in early February<\/a>. Commissioners have yet to formally act on that legislation, which seeks to prohibit any county cooperation in federal immigration enforcement absent a judicial warrant signed by a judge.<\/p>\n

The tabled policy stops short of prohibiting cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or other agencies tasked with enforcing immigration law, but would establish procedures for employees to follow if ICE agents or other law enforcement officials appear at county facilities. It would effectively restrict working county employees from interacting with those individuals without consulting a superior and the county solicitor, Democratic Commissioner Thom Welby contends.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Lackawanna County Commissioners listen to a speaker during the commissioners\u2019 meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

Local residents imploring commissioners to adopt Gaughan\u2019s ordinance were largely disappointed by the policy proposal Welby put forward, which some see as designed more to protect the county than the potential targets of the Trump administration\u2019s sweeping immigration crackdowns and mass-deportation agenda. Raising moral concerns shared by many public speakers in recent weeks, University of Scranton theology professor Will Cohen, Ph.D., said he\u2019s \u201cmore than a little worried\u201d the would-be policy \u201camounts to a protect ourselves act.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Protect Our Neighbors Act seems to put the most vulnerable people first, but the county policy of Commissioner Welby doesn\u2019t actually mention those who are most vulnerable,\u201d Cohen said, describing it as lacking. \u201cIt emphasizes the need for cooperation with a federal policy that has been morally condemned by very solid citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed policy notes it\u2019s made \u201cwith the explicit understanding that effective law enforcement requires cooperation among agencies at all levels of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople stand in the commissioner\u2019 board room during the public meeting held at the Lackawanna County Government Center in Scranton Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

Scranton resident Jenny Gonzalez said she, too, was \u201cvery frustrated\u201d by the policy proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion this proposal does not protect the immigrant and refugee populations in our county,\u201d she said. \u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaughan wants both of those things included in whatever policy or legislation commissioners ultimately adopt.<\/p>\n

Another regular speaker at recent meetings, Sarah Balmer of Covington Twp., became emotional when expressing her disappointment with the lack of action on Gaughan\u2019s ordinance. Balmer adopted her daughter from China in 2009 and fears the Scranton Prep senior could be profiled and targeted by immigration agents despite being a U.S. citizen.<\/p>\n

\"PeoplePeople stand in attendance during the commissioners\u2019 meeting held at the Lackawanna County Government Center in Scranton Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis moment feels especially disheartening, as you have the opportunity to say to the immigrant community \u2018we see you, we care about you and we will use the limited authority we have to safeguard your constitutional rights,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd for reasons that remain unclear, you chose not to do that. I cannot tell you how deeply hurtful and disappointing this is to me and to my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The few public speakers who endorsed ICE raised the issue of crime perpetrated by undocumented immigrants, as did Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak, who read the names of murdered Georgia nursing student Laken Riley and other victims of such crime before vowing to oppose any ordinance or policy \u201cthat has a potential to interfere\u201d with any law enforcement agency\u2019s attempt to carry out their lawful duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou talk about protect our neighbors, who\u2019s protecting them?\u201d he asked, referring to the aforementioned victims. \u201cWho protected them? They lost their lives because of illegal aliens, people that shouldn\u2019t have been here, people that had rap sheets and people that ICE agents were looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policy in question would create confusion and uncertainty among county employees and could prompt other problems for the county, Chermak contends.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"LackawannaLackawanna County Controller and Scranton resident Gary DiBileo speaks during the commissioners\u2019 meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

Earlier in the meeting, county Controller Gary DiBileo addressed commissioners in his personal capacity and said \u201cwe all want ICE to do what was originally promised by our government, which is to apprehend the worst of the worst illegal-immigrant criminals.\u201d All criminals, regardless of immigration or citizenship status, should be held to account, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, unlike our trained local police, what we have seen are masked federal agents scooping people off the streets, too often without legal warrants, and based on the color of their skin,\u201d DiBileo said. \u201cThere are political forces that want us to believe that the people crossing our southern border from South America are all rapists, murderers, drug dealers or from insane asylums. That is a lie. The vast majority of people crossing the border are trying to escape famine, poverty, violence, war and natural disasters. Quite simply, they are desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LackawannaLackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan looks on during the commissioners\u2019 meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

By the time the policy proposal finally came up for a vote, Gaughan made a motion to table it, something a number of public speakers requested as they called for the county to take a harder line against ICE cooperation. He did so after noting his \u201cgreat respect\u201d for Welby and his appreciation that the policy appeared on the agenda, even though he feels it\u2019s insufficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe policy that Commissioner Welby put forward, instead of setting firm rules, provides guidance: what employees should do, who they should call and how to respond,\u201d Gaughan said. \u201cNow that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing, but in my opinion it does not go as far as I believe it should.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Gaughan continues to back his original ordinance, he said whatever the county ultimately adopts should explicitly prohibit cooperation in federal immigration enforcement unless a judicial warrant is presented. Simply establishing protocols for handling potential interactions with and requests from immigration agents isn\u2019t enough, he said.<\/p>\n

\"LackawannaLackawanna County Commissioner Thom Welby speaks during the commissioners\u2019 meeting held at the county government center in Scranton Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n

Welby, who remains concerned that Gaughan\u2019s proposed ordinance could create civil and even criminal liability for the county and county officials, was reluctant to table a vote on the alternative policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to see this go forward and adopt it and move forward with these guidelines tomorrow, not waiting, and then amend it as we see fit,\u201d he said. \u201cTabling this now \u2014 I don\u2019t know what we\u2019re going to come up with in the future (or) if we\u2019re going to come up with anything in the future \u2014 but I respect Commissioner Gaughan and his passion for this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaughan\u2019s motion to table the policy then passed by a 2-1 vote, with he and Welby in favor and Chermak opposed, prompting applause from the standing-room-only crowd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014 Lackawanna County\u2019s Democratic commissioners tabled a vote on a proposed policy setting protocols for potential interactions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154693,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-154692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}