by Morgan Sweeney
Immigration policy think tank the Center for Immigration Studies released its updated map of American sanctuary locations on Thursday, revealing a surge in Virginia localities adopting sanctuary status.
The center added 36 Virginia localities to its map for a total of 84.
Besides sanctuary states, the commonwealth now tops the charts of states with the most sanctuary jurisdictions, according to the center’s map based on Immigration Customs and Enforcement’s “internal tracking of non-cooperative institutions.”
Jessica Vaughn, the director of policy studies for the center – which has dubbed itself “Low-immigration, pro-immigrant” – lamented the rise in sanctuary locales, saying they place an undue burden on ICE and create opportunities for more crime.
“It is alarming to see the continued proliferation of sanctuary policies, especially in places like Virginia,” she said in a center podcast. “ICE has had to use its scarce resources to re-arrest violent gang members and rapists in our communities who were set free by local jails, when they should have been transferred directly to ICE custody for a plane ride home.”
Vaughan thinks state and federal lawmakers should adopt policies that prevent local law enforcement from flouting ICE protocol and penalize those who do.
The center began tracking sanctuary localities in 2015 and bases its information on ICE records and open sources. Since 2015, more than 10,000 migrants have been “arrested by local authorities for state and local crimes” but have been “released back to the streets due to sanctuary policies, despite ICE seeking custody with a detainer,” with a “significant share” later reoffending, according to the center.
Since there is no federal definition for a sanctuary city, many localities that embrace sanctuary policies won’t use the term.
Fairfax County adopted a policy in 2021 to “reaffirm” existing county policy as part of One Fairfax that protects migrants from having their immigration status revealed to federal officials.
One of the examples the center gave of a migrant who was released from jail and allegedly reoffended was a Honduran man arrested and accused of a child sex crime.
He was released from jail in July 2023 after being arrested by Fairfax County police “despite an ICE detainer.” Fairfax police arrested him again in February 2024 on allegedly four more counts of child sex crimes, and the jail released him again on a $10,000 bond, according to the center.
“In April 2024, ICE sent a team of officers to arrest the offender at his home in Bladensburg, Maryland, stating that he would be kept in ICE custody until his proceedings are complete,” according to the center.
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Morgan Sweeney is a staff writer covering Virginia and Maryland for The Center Square. Morgan was an active member of the journalism program as an undergraduate at Hillsdale College and previously freelanced for The Center Square.
