RICHMOND, VA – Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares issued an opinion highlighting the ability of local and state law enforcement to cooperate with federal agencies in their efforts to enforce our nation’s immigration laws. 

“This opinion should finalize and clarify a matter that ought never to have been confused in the first place,” said Attorney General Jason Miyares. “Virginia’s law enforcement professionals have both the authority and a moral duty to cooperate with every lawful federal immigration order to the maximum extent possible. Should an illegal immigrant be detained in a Virginia jail, there is nothing in law preventing our local and state law enforcement from cooperating with federal agencies.”

“To our sheriffs who already cooperate with ICE on immigration matters: Thank you,” said Miyares. “To those who refuse to cooperate with ICE: Shame on you.”

“Our law enforcement professionals deserve the maximum support and cooperation of our communities and our Commonwealth, especially when it comes to immigration enforcement and keeping our communities safe,” said Miyares. “Likewise, Virginians should rest easy knowing that our local and state law enforcement are doing their utmost to work alongside our federal immigration agencies — and not against them.”

The opinion explains the following key points:

• Federal law permits authorized personnel serving as “immigration officers” to detain aliens civilly for removal purposes.
   
• Federal law contemplates state and local cooperation in the enforcement of immigration law via formal agreements and less formal means.
   
• Permissible cooperation includes working together for the transfer of aliens from state or local custody to federal custody for removal proceedings.
   
• Prerelease notification pursuant to an ICE detainer is critical to facilitating these lawful transfers, and such notification and transfer are clearly authorized under Virginia law. 

“The Miyares family immigrated from Cuba, so I understand immigration in a way few others do,” said Miyares. “We are indeed a nation of immigrants. Yet first and foremost we are a nation of laws whose observance remains the only sure foundation of any free society. ICE detainers should be honored not just as a matter of public policy, but more so because it is the right thing to do.”

Read the entire opinion here.