By Shirleen Guerra | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – As national protests intensify over immigration enforcement and deportations, new data shows Virginia is a leading state partnering with federal immigration authorities.
Virginia now has over 20 active or pending 287(g) agreements, contracts that allow local and state law enforcement to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with arrests and detentions. As of June 6, ICE had signed 649 of these agreements nationwide and was reviewing 79 more.
The 287(g) program lets state and local officers perform certain immigration duties under ICE oversight. Participating officers receive federal training and may initiate the deportation process while continuing to serve their local agency.
The number of agreements in Virginia grew after Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order in February directing the Virginia State Police and Department of Corrections to pursue formal partnerships with ICE. His administration later said the commonwealth’s immigration task force arrested over 1,000 people in its first two months.
According to TRAC data, more than 500 immigration cases were completed in March 2025 at the Arlington immigration court, which serves much of Northern Virginia. That same month, over 2,000 Virginians received removal orders, the fifth-highest state total in the country.
Most of Virginia’s ICE agreements are located in Republican-leaning counties, though some localities have declined to participate.
Arlington County recently expanded its “Trust Policy,” which bars police from contacting ICE unless directly requested. The move drew criticism from Republican leaders, including Attorney General Jason Miyares, who called it “negligence.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security published and later removed a list naming 33 Virginia jurisdictions as sanctuary areas it claimed limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities. That list included Richmond, Alexandria, Fairfax County, Virginia Beach and several others.
Youngkin pushed back on the label and said, “Virginia is not a sanctuary state, and I’ve made that really clear.”
Immigration enforcement is expected to remain a key issue in Virginia’s statewide and local elections this year.
