Governor Abigail Spanberger is considering a handful of bills that would put new restrictions on federal immigration officials.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents may soon have a bunch of new restrictions about what they can do in Virginia courtrooms and at polling places, plus new restrictions on when and where they can wear masks.
Delegate Alfonso Lopez is a Democrat from Arlington who worked with several lawmakers to craft a series of bills now on the governor's desk.
"We know now that federal immigration enforcement continues to act recklessly as they target not only immigrants who have committed no criminal acts but also naturalized and U.S. born citizens simply because of the color of their skin, because they speak with an accent or because they are practicing their constitutional rights," Lopez says.
The legislation does not forbid local governments from cooperating with federal immigration authorities, but it does lay out how they have to operate, forcing them to identify themselves and obtain judicial warrants. Senator Saddam Salim is a Democrat from Fairfax County who says the legislation was crafted to avoid problems with federal supremacy.
"We're not just telling federal law enforcement they can't do this; we’re telling every single law enforcement all across," Salim says. "But on top of that, if they were to violate, we put in a misdemeanor one in this to ensure that the AG's office or a local Commonwealth Attorney's office could go ahead and file those charges."
Spanberger's deadline for taking action on these bills, and thousands of others, is Monday, April 13th.
