There is a battle brewing in Virginia over how to handle illegal aliens and criminals, with Virginia Democrats pushing for policies that restrict Virginia law enforcement from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), policies that put Virginia residents at risk by restricting communication between law enforcement and restricting ICE’s ability to take criminals into custody.
In mid-March, Senate Democrats in Virginia passed a piece of legislation that drastically reduces communication between Virginia law enforcement and ICE, by placing so many restrictions on ICE that the legislation acts as an effective ban on established cooperation.
The bill, SB 783, not only restricts 287(g) agreements that allow law enforcement to coordinate with ICE when they have an illegal alien in custody for a separate crime, but restricts where ICE can wait to secure a criminal illegal alien at “sensitive” locations such as courthouses. It also restricts ICE’s ability to conduct surveillance.
The Virginia House passed its own version of the bill, HB 1441, and both are headed to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk, where they are likely to be signed into law given her track record of positioning herself against ICE. This is very bad news for Virginians as it effectively severs communication and cooperation between local law enforcement and ICE to remove illegal aliens who have criminal records for other crimes.
This pushback against ICE from the legislative branch in Virginia comes as newly elected Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger has positioned herself as opposing President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.
After President Trump’s State of the Union speech in February, where the president touted the most secure U.S. border in history and thousands of successful deportations, Spanberger broadcast a speech of her own, focusing on ICE’s activities to find and deport criminals rather than the criminals themselves.
“Our president has sent poorly trained federal agents into our cities where they have arrested and detained American citizens and people who aspire to be Americans,” she said.
On the Center for Immigration Studies Parsing Immigration Policy podcast, Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman explains how the new policies meant to restrict ICE’s actions in Virginia would effectively end 287(g) agreements, which allow sheriffs to notify ICE when removable illegal aliens in custody are scheduled for release and hold them for up to 48 hours until they can be taken into custody by ICE.
These agreements are much safer for law enforcement and the community because they allow ICE to take custody of criminals who are already in custody. Instead of being released into the community and needing to be tracked down again, ICE is able to take them directly into custody.
Sheriff Chapman explains in the podcast that when a criminal is arrested, the individual is run through a law enforcement database to see if they have a IEQ, or Illegal Alien Query, and if they do, ICE will show interest in taking that person into custody so they are not released back into the community.
The previous agreements with ICE allowed Virginia law enforcement to hold an individual for an additional 48 hours after their release date so that ICE could come and collect them. Chapman notes that law enforcement cooperates with all federal agencies including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and that communicating with other federal agencies is critical to reducing crime.
“I’ve always felt having been a federal agent myself, having worked for the DEA for 23 years across the globe, that we all have our own separate priorities that we enforce, but we all need to work together because we’re all part of the same team. Everything that we do in this country when it comes to law enforcement is to enforce the law and keep our citizens safe”, Chapman stated on the podcast.
“This is just about cooperation, working together, and making sure we are all working as a team to keep our citizens safe”, Chapman concluded.
The pushback against ICE from Virginia Democrats comes in the wake of Gov. Abigail Spaneger formally ending an agreement with ICE that allowed Virginia State Police troopers and Virginia Department of Corrections officers to assist ICE in civil immigration enforcement.
On Feb. 4, shortly after being sworn into office Spanberger ended the agreement to allow Virginia law enforcement to assist ICE with civil immigration enforcement, calling the agreement a “misuse” of resources.
What the anti-ICE bills that passed the Virginia legislature do is go even further than ending the ability for ICE to utilize local law enforcement. Instead, they effectively place so many restrictions on ICE that the cooperation Sheriff Chapman stated is instrumental to effective law enforcement will be drastically reduced.
The issue is Democrats are constantly unwilling to admit the positive work ICE has been doing to make cities safer, with crime numbers on track to fall to the lowest numbers since 1900 in 2026 thanks in large part to deportation and the removal of criminal aliens.
Virginia Democrats pushing to limit local law enforcement from working with ICE officers to hand over illegal criminal aliens is dangerous and counterproductive. With both bills passing the general assembly and heading to Gov. Spanberger’s desk, they will more than likely get signed into law. It is clear that Virginia Democrats are more fixated on opposing the detainment of illegal aliens than they are on working with federal agencies to keep the public safe.
Manzanita Miller is the senior political analyst at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.
