RICHMOND, Va. (CN) - The Virginia Coalition of Immigrant Organizations urged state lawmakers Tuesday to pass legislation restricting ICE enforcement that they claim will benefit citizens and noncitizens alike. 

"We are not just a separate group," Beatriz Amberman, chair of the coalition, said at a press conference. "We are a major part of a group of people that love this country and sacrifice a lot to be here."

Virginia, home to the 10th-largest Latino population in the country, has seen an uptick in ICE arrests since the start of the year, which correlates with Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger taking over for Republican Glenn Youngkin, according to John Cano, senior supervising organizer for the Legal Aid Justice Center.

"This is not who our commonwealth is," Monica Sarmiento of the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights said. "We have seen an explosion of racial profiling and other really abusive tactics that are really leaking from the federal side. These are not the values and the beliefs that we want to set forward."

Cano said his organization and others who manage a hotline received 267 calls about ICE sightings or arrests in January, the highest monthly total since they launched the hotline last year. Reporting from WHRO's Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism revealed that ICE made 4,264 arrests in the first seven months of 2025, almost tripling the total from 2024. 

"We have a slew of bills now here with an opportunity to send a strong message to Virginia that we do not want ICE here in this commonwealth," Cano said.

Democrats, who enjoy a majority in both chambers of the General Assembly, have introduced ICE-related legislation that would restrict local law enforcement's ability to enter into 287(g) written agreements with federal immigration officers, prevent civil and administrative arrests at courthouses and limit ICE activity at state-owned hospitals and schools.

"No one should have their personal information swept up, shared or misused without due process or without their consent; no one should fear that their personal data is being used to target or surveil them or that enforcement ignores the constitutional limits," Delegate Katrina Callsen, a Democrat, said at a January press conference. "Virginia will not allow constitutional rights to be treated as optional."

Walter Tejada, founder of the coalition and former member of the Arlington County Board, said he is particularly disturbed by ICE arresting people at courthouses. 

"Why is that happening in a democracy, in a place where we're supposed to have law and order?" Tejada asked.

Republican Senate Minority Leader Ryan McDougle said his caucus is focused on saving Virginians money rather than focusing on federal issues. 

"As legislators, we should be focused on putting money in people's pockets," McDougal said during a gaggle about ICE-related bills. "That should be where we're focused, not on political gerrymandering, not on raising the political temperature with the federal government."

Republican House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore pointed to the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, which establishes that federal law prevails over state or local law. 

"We have no jurisdiction in this area," Kilgore said. "Virginia has absolutely no say in what the federal government is doing."

Other priorities include strengthening privacy protections for immigrant students, aligning Virginia with federal law to protect immigrant youth eligible for special immigrant juvenile status and who need juvenile court custody orders and changing the length of time driver privilege cards are valid from two years to eight years. 

The organizations also emphasized investing in health and education priorities. Youngkin introduced budget cuts in his final budget proposal to the FAMIS prenatal program, which provides immigrant mothers coverage for benefits including prenatal checkups, labor and delivery and prescription medication. Senator Barbara Favola and Delegate Kathy Tran, both Democrats, introduced amendments that would restore the program's funding. The advocates also seek additional funding for English language learners' school programs. 

"At its core, this is about whether we believe every child in Virginia deserves a healthy start and a fair opportunity to learn," Freddy Mejia, policy director for The Commonwealth Institute, said. "It reduces long-term health care costs. It makes Virginia healthier."

The advocates said they've heard from community members who've lost trust in the government as a result of increasing ICE arrests. Sarmiento told the story of a student whose classmates bullied him after ICE detained his father.

"That trust has not just been hurt; it's been completely obliterated," Sarmiento said. "So we've seen it, and we as community leaders hear about it all the time, lots of stories on the ground all over our commonwealth of people who are now absolutely terrified over what has happened."

Tejada said that issues pertinent to immigrants are important for American citizens, too. 

"This is American values. This is us together as a country, as a democracy, as a way of being," Tejada said. "We are defending democracy in the process of standing up for our community."

Source: Courthouse News Service