In the midst of President Donald Trump's ongoing campaign against unauthorized immigration, Governor Glenn Youngkin directed Virginia's state and local law enforcement to assist federal officers with various operations. WMRA reporters Randi B. Hagi and Calvin Pynn teamed up to see how this is playing out on the ground. This is the second installment of a two-part report.
CALVIN PYNN: For local law enforcement, collaboration with ICE is business as usual. The Daily News-Record reported earlier this week that speakers at a recent protest in Harrisonburg praised the city’s police department for allegedly refusing to cooperate with the agency.
However, City Spokesperson Michael Parks debunked that claim. In an email to WMRA, Parks said that the Harrisonburg Police Department has no policy declaring refusal to comply with ICE, and that HPD has never refused an order from a federal agency.
HPD will work with ICE in situations that pose an immediate danger to the public, and can choose to work with the agency if asked for help in non-emergency situations.
Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson said in a statement to WMRA that the executive order does not change their relationship with ICE and that his office continues to cooperate with ICE as they do with any other federal agency. However, he added that ICE has been busier over the last couple of months than usual.
RANDI B. HAGI: Representatives from the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail, Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center, and Frederick County Sheriff's Office also told WMRA they would continue to cooperate with ICE.
All this begs the question – what is ICE itself doing differently? That information is difficult to ascertain. The most recent data on their website spans from October 2020 through September 2024 – the end of the first Trump presidency and most of Biden's. In our region, including Virginia and Washington, D.C., ICE made more than 7,500 arrests in those four years. Just over half of those arrests ended in deportation, or removal. Two thirds of those removed from the country had a prior criminal conviction. A quarter had only an immigration violation, and the remainder had pending criminal charges. ICE deported two and a half times as many people from this area in fiscal year 2024 as they did in 2021.
WMRA has submitted a FOIA request to ICE for the number of active detainers in the region and a list of the crimes those targeted people have been convicted of. We're expecting the results from that in about a month.
ICE's central media office did not make anyone available for an interview despite multiple requests over the past two weeks. So, I went to their local office in Harrisonburg, where people with ongoing immigration cases have to check in periodically. ICE personnel took my driver's license and business card inside for several minutes while I waited outside. Then they declined to speak with me.
PYNN: Last week, the agency publicized recent operations in northern Virginia, where they arrested more than 200 people – claiming many have ties to gangs and organized crime. A press release touted the cooperation of the Virginia State Police and other partners.
HAGI: WMRA did talk with one local immigration attorney who spoke on the condition of anonymity, given the sensitive nature of his work. He's heard from clients and others in the field that people are being called in for their ICE check-ins sooner than expected. Some who normally checked in at the Harrisonburg office once a year are now being told to go to Chantilly or Richmond, and there's an increased risk of being detained at those check-ins.
The attorney said he has one client from Honduras who has no criminal record, but was previously removed from the U.S. He returned to be with his wife and daughter, and because back home, he has been targeted for harm as an extended family member of people involved in an ongoing feud. This client went to his scheduled ICE check-in and was detained. Because of his prior removal from the country, he is not eligible for official asylum, but could still make a fear-based claim to stay here. According to the attorney, ICE is still considering his claim.
Overall, the attorney said, the immigration law community is seeing "chaos." Undocumented immigrants with criminal records have always been subject to deportation, but now, detainments seem more sporadic. There's not a formula for who exactly is at risk of being detained. However, he noted that ICE, realistically, will still have to prioritize who they put manpower into detaining and deporting. But, all of this is changing and playing out in real time – and the cumulative effects remain to be seen.
Editor's note, 6:15 p.m. — a previous version of this story misstated the number of arrests ICE made in Virginia and Washington, D.C. between October 2020 and September 2024. It has been corrected.
