(The Center Square) — With three weeks remaining in Virginia’s 2025 regular legislative session, three Republican-sponsored bills attempting to nullify sanctuary policies in the state have failed in committee.
Tuesday is the last day chambers can consider their own bills.
The bills would have required universal compliance from Virginia correctional facilities and law enforcement agencies with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; an inquiry into immigration status as a matter of course for anyone applying for public assistance through Virginia’s social services; and the reporting to ICE of the immigration status of any juvenile found guilty of a violent juvenile felony.
Companion bills in the House haven’t progressed out of committee.
In August, the Center for Immigration Studies, a “low-immigration, pro-immigrant” think tank, released a report it had obtained from ICE documenting many instances of non-compliance with correctional facilities across the commonwealth.
Sen. Glen Sturtevant, R-Colonial Heights, who carried two of the bills mentioned above, has been vocal about the need to stop such practices.
In late November, he shared a post from “Illegal Alien Crimes” on X, formerly Twitter, about a Honduran migrant who had been arrested multiple times accused of multiple crimes, including sex-based offenses, and repeatedly released, only to allegedly offend again.
“This illegal alien had multiple run-ins with the law. But because he’s in a ‘sanctuary’ jurisdiction, ICE wasn’t involved. Now, he’s assaulted a woman on the W&OD Trail,” Sturtevant wrote, adding that he was introducing a bill to amend state law from permitting Virginia law enforcement to comply with ICE to requiring compliance.
“State law says VA law enforcement ‘may’ honor an ICE Detainer for an illegal alien in custody. These sanctuary jurisdictions currently refuse. I’m introducing a bill to REQUIRE ICE Detainers be honored in Virginia,” he said.
Upon releasing his proposed budget, Youngkin highlighted the inclusion of a provision cutting off funding to any jurisdiction not complying with ICE. Again, in his State of the Commonwealth address, the governor reiterated his position.
“Let’s keep Virginia safe,” he began. “If someone is in this country illegally, and they commit a violent crime, they should get a one-way ticket back to where they came from. This should not be controversial.”
“If localities have ‘sanctuary city’ policies and refuse to cooperate with ICE, they should lose state funding – full stop,” he said.
Youngkin’s goal of Virginia cooperating with ICE will likely rest entirely on budget negotiations with a Democratic General Assembly.
Though President Donald Trump has threatened mass deportations and issued numerous Executive Orders concerning immigration, an article by the State Court Report claims that state law is integral to local compliance with federal immigration policy.
