Virginia’s then-Governor Glenn Youngkin rushed to assist President Trump’s deportation agenda last year, ordering the state agencies under his control to join ICE’s 287(g) program, which gave them the power to make civil immigration arrests. He also pushed local sheriffs and police chiefs to join the program and help round up immigrants.
But his successor, Democrat Abigail Spanberger, put an end to the state’s partnerships with this ICE program on Wednesday, fulfilling a campaign promise to roll back collaboration.
Within hours of taking office on Jan. 17, Spanberger signed an executive order that rescinded Youngkin’s order mandating that state agencies contract with ICE, but that alone left the agreements intact. She went a step further this week by actually pulling the plug and ordering four state agencies, including the state police and the Department of Corrections, to end their 287(g) agreements, terminating their role as force multipliers for federal immigration authorities.
Good on the governor for finally ripping state agencies out of 287(g). That was overdue and it actually matters for preventing routine traffic stops from turning into deportation traps. Feels like a small win.
But this is not a victory lap. Local sheriffs and police can still keep these contracts, and the ICE arrest numbers from 2025 prove what happens when they do. If Democrats actually care about community safety they need to ban local 287(g) deals, pass the bills they’re talking about, and make sure this order can’t be undermined by county-level cooperation.
So celebrate a little, then get loud. Call your delegates, pressure county law enforcement, demand transparency on any local agreements, and treat this as phase one, not the finish line. If they stop at a symbolic move, we should be ready to call them out.