Illegal Immigration Still on Governor’s List of Priorities for 2011

State still awaiting federal approval for state to take on greater role in immigration enforcement.
By Lauren Jost
Jan.11,2011 6:00am

Gov. Bob McDonnell said he wants local law enforcement agents trained under a federal program that deputizes them to act as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to investigate criminal acts related to illegal immigration.

"Compared to some other states, Virginia has some pretty tough laws for illegal immigration," McDonnell (R) said in an interview with Patch editors.

The federal program is called 287(g), and it calls for local law enforcement to operate with ICE under a memorandum of agreement. Currently, the Herndon, Loudoun, Manassas and Prince William County police departments have adopted such a memorandums of agreement.

In Prince William County, officers check the immigration status of any person held in physical custody. Fairfax County Sheriff's Office runs a program called Secure Communities, which allows ICE to check the immigration of every person booked by sheriff's deputies. As of Nov. 30, Secure Communities had identified 863 people for deportation since its launch in 2009.

McDonnell said said he supports legislation to have illegal aliens face criminal charges, and he is awaiting for approval of the 287(g) status in the commonwealth.

"I feel strongly that they [illegal immigrants] should be detained and deported. We have asked at the state level for the federal government to grant us more authority to police up illegal immigration in Virginia under 287(g)," he said

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