No Virginia agency deputized to enforce immigration law on patrol can search Alexandria's cameras anymore

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — No Virginia law enforcement agency whose officers are deputized to enforce federal immigration law during routine patrol can still search the Alexandria Police Department's license plate reader cameras, an Alexandria Brief analysis found.

Eleven agencies disappeared from the city's public Flock Safety sharing list between Friday and Tuesday. Each one holds a 287(g) Task Force Model agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to ICE's participating-agency roster as of Sept. 15.

The removals came days after Police Chief Tarrick McGuire told City Council the department had the ability to do exactly that.

Councilman Abdel-Rahman Elnoubi asked McGuire on Sept. 8 whether Alexandria could wall off localities with 287(g) agreements. "I don't want ICE or any locality that deals with ICE accessing our data, because I don't want them targeting undocumented immigrants," Elnoubi said. "To the extent that we have the ability to do that, are we able to wall those localities off?"

McGuire said the department can, and that his staff was going through the agencies APD shares data with.

What changed

Alexandria's portal listed 152 agencies on Friday and 141 Tuesday. The list first appeared Aug. 18 with 161 names. The 11 that came off: the sheriff's offices of Amherst, Bedford, Buckingham, Campbell, Franklin, Grayson, Mecklenburg, Page, Shenandoah and Wise counties, and Gordonsville, which ICE lists as the Gordonsville Department of Public Safety.

Two agencies with the same type of agreement, the Shenandoah Police Department and the Appomattox County Sheriff's Office, came off earlier.

In all, 20 agencies have left the list since Aug. 18 and none have been added. Thirteen hold 287(g) agreements. The other seven do not: Hillsville and Wytheville police, the Rappahannock, Dickenson and Wythe county sheriff's offices, Danville police and the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority. All seven came off before Friday.

ICE operates three versions of the 287(g) program, and the difference between two of them separates the agencies that came off Alexandria's list from the one that remains.

The Task Force Model, in ICE's description, allows officers to enforce limited immigration authority while performing routine police duties or as part of an ICE-led task force. The Warrant Service Officer model is narrower: officers serve and execute administrative immigration warrants on people already in their custody. The Jail Enforcement Model applies to people with pending or active criminal charges inside a jail.

The Task Force Model is also the one ICE pays for. Agencies that sign a Task Force agreement may receive $7,500 per trained officer for equipment, $100,000 per agreement for vehicles, reimbursement of salary and benefits for each trained officer, and overtime funds of up to 25% of salary, according to an ICE recruitment brochure. No comparable reimbursement is listed for the other two models.

Virginia has 22 agencies with 287(g) agreements. Twenty are Task Force. Two are Warrant Service Officer: the Alleghany County and Loudoun County sheriff's offices.

Loudoun County is the only 287(g) participant still on Alexandria's sharing list. Alleghany County has not appeared on it.

Loudoun Sheriff Mike Chapman described that agreement Tuesday in a letter to the county Board of Supervisors, writing that his office does not conduct field enforcement with or on behalf of ICE and that its collaboration is limited to people already in custody at the county jail on charges unrelated to immigration, and only when they are scheduled for release. He was responding to a board initiative on the office's relationship with ICE, unrelated to Alexandria's cameras.

Seven other Task Force agencies never appeared on Alexandria's list: the sheriff's offices of Frederick, Greene, Hopewell, Richmond, Scott, Tazewell and Washington counties.

Nationally, ICE reported 2,246 active agreements as of Aug. 1, an increase of more than 1,500% since Jan. 20, 2025.

What the department has said

APD has not confirmed that it removed the agencies or explained the basis. The Brief asked the department Tuesday whether it cut the access, on what grounds, when the decision was made and who made it, and why Loudoun County remains. The department did not respond by publication.

If the department did remove them, it did so in response to a request made in public. Elnoubi's question came at a televised council meeting, and McGuire answered it there.

The department's most recent explanation of the list predates the removals. On Sept. 6, asked about earlier departures, Strategic Communications Manager Tracy Walker wrote that agencies drop off when they stop participating and that the list is maintained through a database rather than by APD.

McGuire told council Sept. 8 that sharing complies with state law and is limited to Virginia agencies, and that any action on access would be taken in consultation with the City Attorney's Office and the City Manager's Office.

The Alexandria Times reported Sept. 2 that 11 agencies on APD's list had 287(g) agreements with ICE. The Shenandoah Police Department, a Task Force agency, had already come off the list by then.

The legal backdrop

Virginia law bars police from sharing license plate data with federal agencies or with any out-of-state, private or commercial database. Sharing with another Virginia agency is allowed only for defined purposes: criminal investigations with reasonable suspicion, missing and endangered persons, human trafficking, outstanding warrants, and stolen vehicles or plates. Willful violation is a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Directive 10.40, the department's license plate reader policy, lists immigration enforcement as a prohibited use, as does the city's Flock portal. Neither addresses whether another Virginia agency's federal immigration role affects its access. The directive is the least specific of four governing agencies that operate or can search cameras in Alexandria.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger ended 287(g) agreements for state agencies in February. Local agreements were unaffected, and about two dozen Virginia localities, concentrated in Southside and Southwestern Virginia, remain enrolled.

Why it matters

The sharing list shows which agencies can search Alexandria's cameras. It does not show which ones have, or why. Under state law, an agency granted access must follow the same restrictions Alexandria follows, and immigration enforcement is not among the permitted purposes.

Concern about that gap has driven much of the local debate. In Chirilagua, where immigration raids have occurred, organizers have said residents fear that data shared with other Virginia agencies could reach federal authorities. Gaskins said last month that Alexandria does not and will not share the data in civil immigration cases. Councilwoman Sandy Marks raised the same question on Sept. 8, asking whether Alexandria could approve or refuse each individual search rather than granting standing access.

Mayor Alyia Gaskins told council Sept. 8 that she does not think there is a role for Flock in Alexandria. She has been asking about the program since June 2025. APD said Friday that City Council will decide how long the department keeps the data. The Alexandria Times reported last week that all seven council members support removing the cameras.

How we checked: The Brief captured Alexandria's Flock transparency portal on Aug. 18, Aug. 27, Sept. 8, Sept. 9, Sept. 11 and Sept. 15, and compared the sharing lists. Agency names were matched against ICE's 287(g) participating-agency spreadsheet, dated Sept. 15, 2026. Program model descriptions and reimbursement figures come from ICE's 287(g) fact sheet and recruitment brochure.

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Ryan Belmore is an Alexandria resident and the founder and publisher of The Alexandria Brief. Send tips, feedback, and story ideas to ryan@alexandriabrief.com.