Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has directed state police, sheriffs and prisons to work with President Donald Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) agency.
Youngkin signed Presidential Order On Thursday, he said, “Instructs Virginia State Police and the Department of Corrections to sign a Section 287(g) Agreement with ICE.”
“The Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security has also directed that it confirms full cooperation with ICE and requires local and local prison authorities to recognize its local and local prison authorities to cooperate with the Section 287(g) VSP Task Force.”
The state prisons hold almost 1,000 deportable immigrants, with “nine of these 10 people being [ICE] Detainees [requests] It's aimed at violent criminals,” the executive order said.
The Federal 287(g) program trains and allows police to link local arrests to ice. Many police and mayors are reluctant to participate in the 287(g) program due to fears of opposition from local Democrats, business groups and immigration activists, and risky lawsuits by pro-immigration groups.
During former President Joe Biden's president, many GOP politicians quietly opposed the 287(g) program due to opposition to a door of closure by business groups that benefited from the Biden's influx of around 9 million illegal migrant workers, consumers and tenants.
However, many Republican governors and legislatures, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, are now directing state sheriffs and police departments to register for the 287(g) program.
“As governor, protecting our citizens is my most important responsibility, and today we are taking action to make Virginia safer by eliminating dangerous criminal immigrants from our federal state.” Youngkin said Thursday:
The order will allow Virginia State Police and the Department of Corrections to partner with President Trump's administration on federal immigration enforcement. Dangerous criminally unlawful immigrants should not return to our community for assault, rape or murder. They should be sent back from where they came.
“We've seen too many tragic stories after dangerous criminals in this country were illegally brought back to the streets. This executive order will ensure they send them back to where they came.”
Youngkin's orders included a Virginia horror story.
In February 2024, an old Dominion University student was killed in a car accident involving illegal immigrants who had previously had multiple practices in law, which had previously been ordered to be deported six years ago. That same month, illegal immigrants sexually assaulted a 14-year-old Campbell County girl. In November 2024, a woman was attacked and raped by illegal immigrants from Honduras. Reports show that the man had 29 encounters with police dating back to 2017, ranging from drug possession to indecent reveals and public nudity.
Read Yougkin's Executive Order 47 here.
