Roughly 40 members of the Virginia Air and Army National Guard began supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday.
In August, Gov. Glenn Youngkin authorized up to 60 guardsmen to work in support roles, largely behind the scenes. The rest of the troops are expected to finish training and processing and report to ICE field offices around the commonwealth by the end of the month. The guardsmen are being pulled from units around the state, according to the governor’s office.
The Virginia troops are authorized to perform administrative and logistics support tasks, including answering phones, data entry, appointment scheduling, biometric collection, performing basic vehicle maintenance and tracking fleet expenses and utilization.
The Virginia National Guard will not perform law enforcement functions or aid in arrests, according to the governor's office.
In other states, the guard provides support at ICE detention centers. The National Guard Bureau has authorized 20 Republican-led states to mobilize the National Guard to aid in the Trump Administration’s stepped-up immigration enforcement.
On July 25, the Pentagon announced that troops working with federal law enforcement would be authorized under Article 32 status, which allows guardsmen to report directly to ICE and other agencies but the governor and the adjutant general of the Virginia National Guard retain control. The authority allows the federal government to pick up the cost of deployment.
The Virginia operation is authorized through Nov. 15.
