Youngkin to draft ban on sanctuary cities, making state funding dependent on ICE cooperation

EXCLUSIVE: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin will introduce a budget proposal that would ban “sanctuary cities” in his state, as well as ensuring tax money doesn’t go to counties or independent cities that don’t comply with ICE.

The proposal would require local police and corrections officials to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests for criminal illegal immigrants and notify the federal government within two days of releasing anyone found enroll through the justice system.

Additionally, any municipality that identifies as a sanctuary city or enacts similar policies will have state funds allocated to support their police departments withheld.

The Department of Criminal Justice Services, currently led by Youngkin appointee and former Prince William County Officer Jackson Miller, will be recommended to retain what is called “599 Funding” in that regard.

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“Criminals who are in the United States illegally will be turned over to ICE,” Youngkin told Fox News Digital on Thursday.

“We must stop the cycle of violence and crime that some local governments are allowing. Virginia is not a sanctuary state, and we must be clear that we will not allow localities to become ‘sanctuary cities.'”

The Republican governor, who is term-limited next year under Virginia’s one-size-fits-all policy, said that if local governments “accommodate pro-illegal immigrant groups” they will see the spigot of state assistance turned off to taxpayers.

The news comes amid recent violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants in Virginia, most recently the sexual assault of a jogger on a popular Herndon railroad track.

Shortly before Thanksgiving, Honduran national Denis Humberto Navarette-Romero was accused of attempting to defile and rape a woman on Old Dominion Trail. The police chief of the Washington, D.C., suburb said it was the first case of stranger rape in his 12 years on the job.

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Critics pointed to Fairfax County’s sanctuary-type policies, as Navarette-Romero had previously been arrested for auto theft and indecent exposure.

In 2018, Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid notified ICE that her office will no longer hold inmates past their release dates unless an administrative request to hold suspects is accompanied by a lawful criminal detainer.

Kincaid he told WJLA Earlier this year, his department demanded such an order after ICE officials criticized the lack of cooperation with Virginia’s most populous county.

Only three of the 725 “undocumented individuals” in Fairfax custody between July 2023 and July 2024 were transferred to ICE, the outlet reported.

Also in November, the Arlington County Board voted 4-1 in favor of a policy that police can only notify ICE in cases involving gang members and very serious crimes, according to ArlNow.

The vote came as activists chanted “ICE out of Arlington!”

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Alexandria, an independent city, initiated a policy in 2007 stating that it would not ask about citizenship “beyond what is required by state and federal laws.”

In 2017, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney responded to President Trump’s immigration policies by ordering the city’s police department not to enter into collaborative agreements with ICE and not to inquire about citizenship status “in the interest of of public safety”.

Virginia officials have said the state Department of Corrections has always recognized and continues to recognize ICE detainers during Youngkin’s tenure.

Trump’s incoming “border czar,” Thomas Homan, has repeatedly promised a “mass deportation” initiative and similarly warned sanctuary cities that he will use the power of the federal government to enforce the law.