U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has confirmed they conducted an arrest operation in the Ruckersville area last week, just before state law restrictions on their partnerships with local law enforcement agencies go into effect. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
On Tuesday, June 23rd, ICE officers and local law enforcement partners arrested 49 people in the Ruckersville area who are "illegally in the United States," according to an ICE spokesperson. Charlottesville Tomorrow previously reported that dozens of vehicles sat abandoned along local roads as ICE agents and Greene County sheriff's deputies stopped them and arrested the occupants.
The spokesperson said all of those arrested had been transported to ICE facilities for processing and would remain in custody pending removal proceedings. They added, "partnerships with law enforcement are critical to having the resources we need to arrest illegal aliens across the country. When politicians bar local law enforcement from working with DHS, our law enforcement officers have to have a more visible presence so that we can find and apprehend the criminals let out of jails and back into communities."
The spokesperson did not allege any of those arrested in Ruckersville had been targeted because of criminal records.
Earlier this year, Gov. Abigail Spanberger ordered state law enforcement agencies, including the Virginia State Police, to terminate their contracts with ICE – referred to as 287(g) agreements. She wrote in an executive directive that the agreements "improperly cede accountability and discretion over Virginia law enforcement to the federal government."
ICE still lists 28 local agencies in Virginia as 287(g) participants on its website, including the sheriff's offices in Greene, Page, and Shenandoah counties. Most of these are "task force model" agreements, which allow local officers "to identify and report suspected aliens not charged with crimes … and exercise limited immigration authority on ICE-led task forces."
A new Virginia law that goes into effect July 1 puts guardrails on local agency collaboration with ICE. If they want to keep a 287(g), it comes with several requirements:
- ICE must provide the local agency with the names and ranks of all federal agents engaged in enforcement activity in Virginia,
- All ICE agents must be visually identified as such,
- Immigration enforcement activities cannot be carried out at schools, faith-based organizations, or courthouses, and
- Federal agents conducting immigration enforcement activities cannot enter a home without a valid judicial warrant.
The law does not limit local agencies' ability to transfer custody of an incarcerated adult to ICE.
