Federal Judge Blocks Virginia Law Banning Cooperation With ICE

A federal judge on Aug. 31 halted a Virginia state law designed to limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pending a trial, saying a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against the state is likely to succeed on its merits.

Judge Robert E. Payne of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Monday issued a preliminary injunction to block Virginia from enforcing the measure because the law “directly regulates the conduct of federal law enforcement” and may violate the intergovernmental immunity doctrine that prevents states from interfering with the operations of the federal government.

“The public interest and the balance of equities favor an injunction because … frustration of, and interference with, federal statutes and prerogatives in the enforcement of federal immigration law is not in the public interest,” Payne added.

The state law (SB 783 and HB 1441) that Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed in April placed constraints on Section 287(g) agreements under the Immigration and Nationality Act that allow ICE to partner with local governments in enforcement actions.

The Virginia law prohibits state or local law enforcement agencies from “maintaining, renewing, or entering into any federal immigration agreement unless such agreement contains certain provisions.”

It also blocks “any person acting in his capacity as a law-enforcement officer to assist, cooperate with, or use any law-enforcement resources to facilitate any operation that seeks to identify, arrest, or otherwise impose a penalty upon an individual for any violation of federal civil immigration law.”

“These bills set a clear framework for Virginia law enforcement agencies working with ICE on immigration enforcement under a valid judicial order,” Spanberger said.

“The legislation affirms that Virginia law enforcement officers can investigate crimes and operate as part of a joint state-federal law enforcement task force,” her office said, adding amendments she proposed that “make clear that the legislation allows the Department of Corrections, local sheriffs, and jails to honor federal immigration detainers from ICE and transfer custody of a felon.”

In June, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Virginia, arguing that the law goes against the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause. The U.S. government “cannot and will not renegotiate” Section 287(g) agreements that comply with Virginia state law “because the Virginia law violates federal law.”

The Legal Aid Justice Center, a civil liberties group in Virginia, said in an Aug. 31 statement that it disagrees with the judge and argued that Virginia should appeal the decision.

“We are very concerned that existing 287(g) agreements will be allowed to continue,” Legal Aid said in a statement. “These agreements entangle local law enforcement in federal immigration enforcement, which undermines the trust communities need to report crimes and cooperate with investigations.”

State-level officers should not be used as a “force multiplier of federal immigration enforcement,” the group added.

The judge’s order comes after ICE carried out a sting in Maryland and Virginia from Aug. 1 to Aug. 14 in which 1,328 illegal immigrants were arrested in what officials called “Operation Safe Community—Washington, D.C.”

Those arrested had criminal records, ICE said, which included murder, rape, assault, drug trafficking and possession, driving while intoxicated, weapons crimes, domestic violence, kidnapping, and others.