Charlottesville, surrounding Albemarle County and nearby Augusta County have been added to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” said to be defying federal immigration law — a list that includes one nonexistent location.
The list includes cities and counties in 34 states which DHS considers sanctuaries harboring illegal immigrants. In Virginia, it lists 19 counties and 13 cities, including the state’s capital of Richmond and its largest city of Virginia Beach.
Among the Virginia counties listed is “Martinsville County,” which does not exist. A DHS spokesman did not respond to a Daily Progress inquiry regarding its inclusion.
While there are some self-identified sanctuary cities on the list, many, including Charlottesville and Albemarle County, have said the label does not apply to them.
DHS said in a statement that sanctuary jurisdictions are those “that are deliberately and shamefully obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws, endangering American communities.”
Both Charlottesville and Albemarle County have released statements adamantly denying they have any policies or practices that prohibit or impede cooperation with federal immigration laws or law enforcement officers.
“Charlottesville takes seriously its responsibility to comply with state and federal law,” City Manager Sam Sanders said in a statement. “The City does not obstruct federal immigration enforcement, and we have no policy or practice that would warrant inclusion on this list.”
“The enforcement of federal immigration law is the responsibility of the federal government, and Albemarle County complies with those laws,” the county said in its own statement. “As with other federal actions, we will continue to monitor the situation and respond appropriately should we receive formal notice.”
Both Charlottesville and Albemarle County said they have received no “official notification from the federal government regarding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s recently released list of ‘sanctuary jurisdictions.’”
DHS published its list just in time to make the 30-day deadline implemented in an executive order President Donald Trump signed last month requiring the agency to publish a list of “States and local jurisdictions that obstruct the enforcement of Federal immigration laws.”
The order, titled “Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens,” says that the attorney general and the secretary of DHS would update the list “as necessary.”
While Albemarle County officials said they had contacted federal partners for “clarification,” Sanders said he hopes DHS “will move swiftly to correct the record” and remove Charlottesville from its list.
It’s unclear how an jurisdiction could be removed, as it is unclear why any jurisdiction was added.
“Designation of a sanctuary jurisdiction is based on the evaluation of numerous factors, including self-identification as a sanctuary jurisdiction, noncompliance with Federal law enforcement in enforcing immigration laws, restrictions on information sharing, and legal protections for illegal aliens,” DHS told The Daily Progress in an email.
Pressed for additional information, DHS did not provide any evidence that either Charlottesville or Albemarle County had not complied with immigration laws or law enforcement officers.
The department also did not address questions from The Daily Progress about how jurisdictions can remove themselves or what consequences they face for finding themselves on the list.
Eight years ago, then-Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer declared Charlottesville the “capital of the resistance” during Trump’s first term after the president imposed a ban on accepting refugees from predominantly Muslim countries. He said the city would be working with its delegation in Congress to get clarification on the legal status of refugees and immigrants already in Charlottesville, set up volunteer legal assistance for those immigrants and refugees, communicate with the city’s commonwealth’s attorney to prepare for future “draconian” enforcement of immigration laws and instruct the Charlottesville Human Rights Office to address xenophobia and harassment on the city’s streets. Signer never outright encouraged skirting federal immigration laws.
The city and Albemarle County, however, do have more recent evidence of actively complying both with federal immigration law and law enforcement officers.
When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided the Albemarle County Courthouse in downtown Charlottesville on April 22, neither the city nor the county intervened.
Three plainclothes agents — one masking his identity behind a balaclava — detained two men that day and drove away with them in unmarked vehicles. Both men were booked at an immigrant detention facility in Farmville.
The Daily Progress reached out to the Albemarle County Police Department shortly after the raid.
“Per our existing policy and practice, the Albemarle County Police Department does not inquire into the immigration status of victims or witnesses,” police spokeswoman Logan Bogert told The Daily Progress in an email. “While ACPD collaborates with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and ICE on significant cases such as homicides, sexual assaults, and child exploitation investigations, we do not have the legal authority to enforce federal immigration laws.”
This, it appears, was not enough to disqualify the localities from DHS’s list.
While the jurisdictions on the list are primarily Democrat-led cities and counties, there are some Republican-led jurisdictions, including Virginia Beach and Charlottesville’s neighbor to the west Augusta County.
Gerald Garber, the chairman of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors, said county staff spent much of Friday trying to get an answer as to why the county has been deemed a sanctuary jurisdiction.
“We think it is possible it is tied to the jail,” Garber told The News Virginian. Middle River Regional Jail is located in Verona. Garber said several other of the 30 Virginia jurisdictions with the sanctuary status have regional jails.
Garber said trying to get answers about this development “is eating up an enormous amount of staff time.”
News Virginian reporter Bob Stuart contributed to this story.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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