A federal judge ordered Delaware officials to turn over confidential employer and employee data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), delivering a legal defeat to former President Joe Biden’s home state in a dispute over immigration enforcement.

U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly ruled that the Delaware Department of Labor (DDOL) must comply with a federal subpoena seeking wage reports and employee records from 15 businesses as part of an investigation into the suspected hiring of undocumented workers.

Delaware officials argued they could refuse the request and warned that compliance would harm worker reporting and state programs, but Connolly rejected that position.

“This is a political argument; not a legal one,” Connolly wrote. “This Court is not the proper ‘forum in which to air [DDOL’s] generalized grievances about the conduct of government.’ It would be wholly inappropriate for me to consider this line of argument, and I decline to do so.”

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The records include employees’ names, Social Security numbers and wages reported to the state as part of its unemployment insurance system.

Federal investigators said the records will help identify potentially fraudulent Social Security numbers, compare reported employees to workers observed onsite and detect off-the-books labor.

Connolly, a Trump-appointed judge, wrote that the subpoena was lawful, relevant to a legitimate investigation and not overly burdensome for the state to fulfill.

The subpoena seeks 30 records covering two quarters for the 15 businesses, which the judge said would not be burdensome for the state to produce.

He also dismissed Delaware’s argument that sharing the data would harm its unemployment insurance system, calling the claim unsupported.

“I am neither willing nor able to adopt DDOL’s cynical view of the State’s employers,” Connolly wrote.

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The ruling marks a setback for Delaware in its battle over ICE’s access to state labor data, as the federal government moves to expand immigration enforcement.

The court said Delaware officials ignored the subpoena and failed to respond even after a follow-up warning from federal prosecutors.

Delaware’s newly appointed U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wallace said the ruling reinforces that federal law applies broadly.

“We are gratified that the court recognized the simple truth at the core of this case: federal law applies to everyone, whether they are a state or private entity, and whether they agree or disagree with the federal government’s policy priorities,” Wallace told the Delaware News Journal.

The dispute escalated after Delaware ignored multiple ICE subpoenas in early 2025, prompting the federal government to sue for enforcement. State officials have not said whether they plan to appeal.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the Delaware Department of Labor, the Delaware Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware and DHS and ICE for comment.

Read the ruling below.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation on Tuesday setting Aug. 18 as the date for a special election to fill the congressional seat vacated by Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress on Tuesday.

“I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim and order that a special election shall be held on the 18th day of August 2026, within the 14th Congressional District of the State, to fill the vacancy in the office of the U.S. House of Representatives from said district resulting from the resignation of Representative Eric Swalwell,” the proclamation declares.

Members from both sides of the political aisle had called for Swalwell to resign or else face expulsion due to accusations against him of sexual misconduct and rape.

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The Democrat, who had been running in the Golden State’s gubernatorial race, announced Sunday night that he was suspending his campaign.

On Monday, he announced that he planned to resign from Congress.

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Swalwell’s resignation letter was read in the House on Tuesday.

“I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegations made against me,” Swalwell’s letter read, in part.

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The resignation came after he served in the U.S. House of Representatives for more than a decade, having taken office in 2013.