Spanberger orders state agencies to terminate all 287(g) agreements with ICE

The directive applies to state law enforcement. In Alexandria, the real debate is over the sheriff's voluntary transfers — which the governor can't touch.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday signed an executive directive ordering all state law enforcement agencies to terminate their agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Executive Directive 1 names four agencies: the Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Corrections, the Virginia Department of Wildlife and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. Each is directed to end its 287(g) agreements and any related memoranda of understanding with ICE, and to report to its secretariat within five business days confirming the withdrawal.

The directive does not apply to local law enforcement. City police departments, county sheriffs’ offices and other local agencies are not covered and remain free to maintain or enter into their own agreements with federal immigration authorities.

What the directive does

The action follows Spanberger’s Executive Order No. 10, signed on her first day in office, Jan. 17, which rescinded former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order 47. That order had required state agencies to enter into 287(g) agreements with ICE, which deputize state officers to perform certain federal immigration enforcement functions.

While EO 10 removed the mandate, it did not direct agencies to end agreements already in place. Tuesday’s directive does. It orders the four named agencies to terminate all existing 287(g) agreements outright.

Spanberger’s office cited the findings of a review by the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and the Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources, which examined the language of the agreements themselves. According to the directive, the review found that the 287(g) agreements “improperly cede accountability and discretion over Virginia law enforcement to the federal government” by requiring that Virginia officers work “under the supervision or direction of” ICE.

The directive reaffirms that Virginia law enforcement “will continue to exercise available authority — including in cooperation with local, state, federal, and tribal partners — under a valid judicial warrant.”

In Alexandria, the directive changes nothing. The local debate is already elsewhere.

The City of Alexandria was not party to a 287(g) agreement under the Youngkin administration, and the directive does not change the city’s law enforcement operations.

But Alexandria has its own ongoing conflict over ICE cooperation — one that neither the governor’s executive order nor this directive can resolve.

The Alexandria Police Department does not participate in ICE raids or arrests to enforce immigration laws. The city does not provide ICE with office space, facilities or equipment. APD officers will not arrest individuals based solely on administrative warrants or civil detainers for immigration status, according to the city’s website. The city says it complies with all federal and state immigration laws and is not a sanctuary jurisdiction.

The city’s policy also states that it will “aggressively prosecute individuals who threaten our security by committing serious crimes, including checking the immigration status of any such person and forwarding this information to appropriate state and federal officials.”

The Alexandria Sheriff’s Office occupies different ground. Sheriff Sean Casey has rejected the characterization that his office collaborates with ICE, and he rejected Youngkin’s demand that the office participate in broader immigration enforcement. He removed ICE from the office’s federal jail contract with the U.S. Marshals Service. His office does not honor ICE detainers, does not hold inmates past their release date based on a detainer, and does not allow ICE to take custody of an inmate without a federal arrest warrant.

But Casey does transfer inmates to ICE on their scheduled release date when ICE has filed what his office describes as a “lawful arrest warrant.” Those warrants are administrative — signed by ICE officials, not judges. Arlington and Fairfax counties only honor judicial warrants signed by judges.

In November, the Alexandria City Council issued a collective statement calling on Casey to stop the transfers. Mayor Alyia Gaskins read the statement following a closed session, saying: “We do not support any voluntary participation by the Sheriff’s Office in ICE immigration procedures. We call upon the Sheriff to cease his transfer of persons in his custody in response to ICE administrative detainers and warrants.”

Council asked Casey to join Arlington and Fairfax in only honoring judicial warrants. But the statement acknowledged that Casey, as an independently elected constitutional officer, has the discretion to set his own policy.

Casey has not changed course. Sheriff’s Office data shows 54 inmates were transferred to ICE in 2025 — the highest number since 2019 and a sharp increase from 11 in 2021. The office says the overwhelming majority were in jail after being arrested for serious crimes.

The Sheriff’s Office public statement on ICE cooperation has been in place since Nov. 5, 2025. The office says a Feb. 3 website update was limited to correcting a hyperlink and did not change the substance of the statement.

Alexandria Police Department spokesperson Tracy Walker confirmed the department “has not participated in the federal 287(g) program and does not currently have a 287(g) agreement.”

Amy Bertsch, a spokesperson for the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office, said the office “does not have a 287(g) agreement, and in fact, Sheriff Casey had rejected Governor Youngkin’s demand last February to participate and cooperate in immigration enforcement in our community.”

Bertsch did not address the governor’s new directive or the office’s ongoing practice of transferring inmates to ICE on administrative warrants.

Timing and context

The directive was signed one day after DHS issued that press release, which cited the arrest of a man DHS describes as a confessed MS-13 gang member to attack Spanberger’s executive order. That arrest, which occurred Dec. 31 at a federal immigration office 17 days before Spanberger took office, was carried out entirely by federal agents. DHS’s own account describes no involvement by state or local law enforcement. [A separate Alexandria Brief fact-check of DHS’s claims is available here.]

Spanberger’s directive and executive order both draw the same line: state law enforcement should focus on criminal matters and community safety, while federal civil immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. The executive order itself states that Virginia law enforcement should prioritize “coordination with federal entities on criminal matters.”

Critics, including Virginia House Republican Leader Terry Kilgore, have argued that ending 287(g) participation “allows criminal illegal immigrants to remain in our communities and commit crimes over and over again by shielding them from cooperation with federal law enforcement.” DHS has made similar arguments in press releases targeting Democratic governors in multiple states.

The debate over whether 287(g) agreements reduce crime or divert state resources from local policing remains active. Proponents point to arrests made through the program. Opponents, including law enforcement officials in some jurisdictions, argue the agreements undermine community trust and pull officers away from core duties.

Correction, Feb. 5, 2026: An earlier version of this story noted that the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office website was updated on Feb. 3, the same day as the DHS press release, implying a connection. The Sheriff’s Office says the update was limited to correcting a hyperlink and that the substance of its public statement has not changed since Nov. 5, 2025. The story has been updated to reflect this.