Baltazar-Lopez named director of Office of New Americans

Rony Baltazar-Lopez has been named director of the newly formed state Office of New Americans.

 

Gov. Matt Meyer announced Nov. 3 the launch of the Delaware Office of New Americans, which will be housed within the Department of State, to provide dedicated support to the immigrant community, offer citizenship assistance, and support with language, workforce development, and civic-engagement resources.

 

Meyer said Baltazar-Lopez will bring both lived experiences and policy insights to his new role. Baltazar-Lopez was previously director of policy and communications at the Department of State, and he ran as a Democrat in the 2024 election against Rep. Bryan Shupe, R-Milford.

 

Officials said the office will soon host a statewide listening tour to understand the needs of Delaware’s immigrant community, as well as organizations that currently support them. 

 

In Delaware, officials said, about 11.5 percent of the population, nearly 118,000 Delawareans, are immigrants, and about 79,000 of them are in Delaware’s workforce, including about 6,900 who are entrepreneurs. Immigrants contribute $1.4 billion to Delaware’s economy annually, officials said.