(The Center Square) – Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has issued an executive order directing state law enforcement and corrections officers to assist with federal immigration enforcement, underscoring that “Virginia is not a sanctuary state.”
Youngkin signed Executive Order 47 to “keep Virginians safe from dangerous criminal illegal immigrants,” which will deputize Virginia State Police and corrections officers to assist in federal immigration enforcement.
The governor cites Section 287(g), which allows state and local law enforcement officials to be deputized to support federal immigration enforcement.
The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 added Section 287(g) to the Immigration and Nationality Act, authorizing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enter into agreements with local and state law enforcement agencies to support federal immigration enforcement.
The agreements give federally trained and certified local and state law enforcement officers the “authority to perform specified immigration officer functions” under the direction and oversight of ICE.
The order directs the Virginia State Police and the Department of Corrections to sign Section 287(g) agreements with ICE and direct the secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to request certification from local and regional jail authorities to confirm their “full cooperation” with immigration officials, stating that they will work with the Virginia State Police Task as part of the agreement.
Executive Order 47 requests that localities “fully cooperate” with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removal. It also creates a Virginia State Police task force. The task force will be made up of federally deputized troopers who will support operations by identifying and apprehending “criminal illegal immigrants who pose a risk to public safety” throughout the commonwealth.
As part of the order, it directs the Virginia Department of Corrections to “complete a Section 287(g) Jail Enforcement Model Memorandum of Understanding” with ICE, allowing detention and processing facilities to be used. In addition, the agreement will train correction officers to be “assigned” as Designated Immigration Officers.
The order added that nearly 950 inmates in the Virginia Department of Corrections system currently have an open immigration detainer, highlighting that the “detainers are not issued lightly,” indicating federal immigration authorities “flagged” the individuals “due to their involvement in serious criminal activities.”
The governor’s order included that “nine out of every ten” detainees are for violent criminals; four out of 10 “have been identified as rapists and sexual assailants;” and two out of 10 “have been identified as murderers.”
Youngkin underscored the importance of working with federal partners in protecting Virginians from dangerous criminals, including “criminal illegal immigrants.”
“As governor, protecting our citizens is my foremost responsibility and today we are taking action that will make Virginia safer by removing dangerous criminal illegal immigrants from our commonwealth,”said Youngkin. “This order will allow Virginia State Police and the Department of Corrections to partner with President Trump’s administration on federal immigration enforcement. Dangerous criminal illegal immigrants should not be let back into our communities to assault, rape and murder. They should be sent back where they came from.”
Sanctuary policies in several localities in Virginia, especially populous Northern Virginia, have been a source of contention between the Youngkin administration and progressive counties, such as Fairfax County.
