(The Center Square) – Over 1,600 “criminal aliens” were released from Virginia jails between October 2022 and February 2025 after local authorities declined detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a new report.
The Center for Immigration Studies obtained the data via a Freedom of Information Act request. The data places Virginia among the top three states for declined ICE detainers, behind only California and Illinois.
An ICE detainer asks local law enforcement to hold someone in jail after their scheduled release so federal immigration agents can take custody.
Nationally, more than 25,000 detainers were declined during the same period.
“Sanctuary policies continue to undermine public safety in many communities, despite numerous tragedies, due to misunderstanding of immigration enforcement or, more likely, for political reasons,” said Jessica Vaughan, the Center’s director of policy studies. “They should face consequences for putting the public at risk.”
The new findings come as Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin intensifies the commonwealth’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. In March, he issued Executive Order 47, which directs state and local corrections officers to fully assist ICE under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“Sanctuary policies have no place in Virginia,” Youngkin said at the time.
The executive order noted that nearly 950 inmates in Virginia Department of Corrections custody had open immigration detainers—and of those, 70% were tied to violent crimes.
According to CIS, Fairfax County was among the top three jails nationwide for declined detainers, releasing more than 1,150 “criminal aliens” during the review period. Prince William County released another 172, placing it in the top 30 nationally.
Both jurisdictions were also named in CIS data showing cases where individuals with homicide charges or convictions were released without ICE notification.
Many localities across Virginia are listed as “sanctuary jurisdictions” by CIS due to their shared membership in regional jail systems that may limit federal cooperation or access. These locations include Albemarle, Arlington, Loudoun, Richmond, Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
The new information was released just weeks after the launch of the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force, an interagency crackdown on transnational criminal organizations, including MS-13 and cartels involved in drug and human trafficking.
The task force arrested more than 200 individuals in the first two weeks, including a high-profile arrest in March involving an alleged MS-13 ringleader apprehended in Prince William County, just miles from the FBI Academy in Quantico.
