More than 1,100 bills came out of this year’s Virginia General Assembly session, and many will take effect tomorrow (Wednesday).
After Democrats gained a trifecta with last year’s election of Gov. Abigail Spanberger and control of the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, legislators’ bills focused on priorities like immigration enforcement, gun control, housing and tenant protections, reproductive rights and more.
Two state laws sponsored by state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim (D-37) seeking to restrain federal immigration enforcement agents are being challenged by the Trump administration’s Justice Department.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia’s Richmond Division last Thursday (June 11), challenges Virginia’s incoming ban on law enforcement officers wearing face masks and restrictions on cooperation agreements between federal immigration enforcement and state and local law enforcement agencies.
About 30 people gathered at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Chantilly on Sunday (May 31) to protest the expansion of immigration detentions in the U.S. and to show support for those detained inside the building.
Holding American flags and homemade signs, the group outside ICE’s Washington Field Office at 14797 Murdock Street read aloud a list of people who had died in ICE custody, then sang “No están solos” (Spanish for “they are not alone”), followed by refrains of “none of us are free until all of us are free,” and “together we will abolish ICE.”
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger has taken a mixed approach to bills from Fairfax state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim (D-37) intended to counter the Trump administration’s draconian approach to immigration enforcement.
The governor announced today (Wednesday) that she has signed SB 352 and its House of Delegates companion HB 1482, which ban law enforcement officers from covering their faces, while vetoing legislation (SB 351 and HB 650) that would restrict federal immigration agents from conducting civil arrests in certain public places, including courthouses, schools and health care facilities.
Republican lawmakers accused Fairfax County’s top prosecutor and sheriff of being soft on crime and endangering lives due to policies limiting cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a charge both denied during a tense congressional hearing yesterday (Thursday).
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano and Sheriff Stacey Kincaid testified that they do not provide preferential treatment to immigrants, as congressional Republicans repeatedly alleged throughout the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement hearing.
The Trump administration has launched an investigation into the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office over its handling of cases involving undocumented immigrants as defendants.
The Justice Department notified Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano today (Wednesday) that it has opened an investigation into his office’s policy advising prosecutors to consider defendants’ immigration status when making decisions about plea agreements, charges and sentencing.
Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) has recommended changes to bills on immigration enforcement from a Fairfax County state senator.
State Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim (D-37) had introduced Senate versions of the bills to restrict federal immigration enforcement in certain places, prevent law enforcement from wearing masks and ban state and local law enforcement agreements with federal immigration enforcement.
Fairfax County Public Schools is planning its own investigation separate from the police into allegations that a Fairfax High School student groped multiple female students, Superintendent Michelle Reid announced.
In a letter sent on Monday (March 23) to families, Reid said that FCPS had retained the services of “an independent outside law firm to conduct a comprehensive review of this matter.”
With less than two weeks left in the Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session, three bills authored by a Fairfax state senator that would “end ICE abuses” still have a chance to become law.
Each of the bills introduced by state Sen. Saddam Azlan Salim (D), which would place state-level restrictions on federal immigration enforcement activities, await action by the House of Delegates at large before potentially heading to the governor’s desk.
A capacity crowd filled a church in Reston yesterday (Thursday) to remember two U.S. citizens recently shot and killed by federal immigration officers in Minnesota.
Rep. James Walkinshaw, who helped organize the vigil, was joined by local religious and human rights leaders at United Christian Parish to commemorate the lives of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, along with others who have recently died in the custody of or during encounters with federal immigration agencies.
