Immigration arrests in Virginia have surged over the past year, with thousands more people being taken into custody and a growing share of them being detained without prior criminal convictions.
According to an analysis of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement enforcement data, obtained by VPM News through the Deportation Data Project's FOIA-released dataset, ICE has made nearly 11,000 arrests in the commonwealth during the period between President Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration and early March 2026.
Data also shows that 13 minors under the age of 6 years old were detained by ICE in Virginia during that same period.
For comparison, immigration enforcement made 1,595 arrests in Virginia during all of 2024.
Federal immigration enforcement in the US is carried out primarily by ICE, which is responsible for identifying, arresting and detaining individuals accused of violating immigration law. Unlike the criminal justice system, immigration detention is a civil process: This means people can be held without being charged.
Legal aid advocates have pointed to the rising arrests in Virginia being fueled in part by expanded cooperation between federal and local law enforcement through 287(g) agreements.
Under 287(g) agreements, local officers are deputized to enforce federal immigration law. The contracts also create jail task force models, which help transform local jails into entry points for detention.
Aside from 287(g) agreements, ICE also has an intergovernmental service agreement to hold people in custody at Caroline Detention Center in Caroline County, Farmville Detention Center in Farmville, Riverside Regional Jail Authority in Prince George County and Southwest Regional Jail in Abingdon.
According to the latest figure obtained by VPM News, 7,344 people have been booked at RRJA from January 2025 to early April 2026 under a designation linked to federal immigration enforcement, reflecting the facility's agreement with ICE.
Officials have said RRJA functions as a temporary holding site, generally up to 72 hours, while individuals are processed and then transferred into ICE custody.
VPM News confirmed that prior to Trump's second inauguration, the jail did not book anyone under the charge of "authority to arrest illegal aliens."
In the City of Richmond, residents have detailed to VPM News how rising enforcement has disrupted their daily lives.
Parents and teachers have also spoken out about the difficulty in getting children to school, while others have stopped attending all together after witnessing detainments.
Several have said they've hesitated to call 911 during emergencies or even go to the grocery store, worried that a routine errand could result in ICE detention.
Over 3,000 ICE arrests were linked to the Richmond ICE field office in Chesterfield County.
While nationally, the Trump administration has justified the immigration crackdowns as a way to combat violent crimes allegedly committed by immigrants, federal data illustrates that the majority of individuals in ICE custody — both nationally and in Virginia — have no criminal record.
According to TRAC Immigration, as of early 2026, about 70% of people held in ICE detention nationwide had no criminal convictions, often facing only civil immigration violations or minor infractions such as traffic offenses, mirroring detentions at Virginia's ICE facilities in Caroline County and Farmville.
ICE's fiscal year 2026 data shows that Caroline Detention Facility's average daily population was 331 people — with 216 people being marked as having "no ICE threat level" — meaning they had no prior criminal convictions.
This compares to data for Farmville Detention Center, which shows the average daily population was 685 for FY26, with 469 people marked as having no prior criminal convictions. (The federal government's fiscal year runs from Oct. 1–Sept. 30; Virginia's fiscal runs July 1–June 30.)
While outcome data for those held in Virginia detention centers remains unclear, people who enter the US immigration system can face very different paths. Some are released after posting bond, while others spend months in detention, are deported or agree to "self-deport."
New laws set to take effect in Virginia on July 1 are expected to reshape the state's relationship with federal immigration authorities by sharply restricting 287(g) agreements and limiting cooperation — changes that could significantly alter how and how often people are funneled into ICE detention in the months ahead.
Copyright 2026 VPM