Richmond, Virginia—Virginia is currently experiencing one of the most significant increases in immigration enforcement in the country. Immigration enforcement has risen in Virginia by 350%, a significantly higher increase than states like Florida and Texas, and approximately 2,512 Virginians have been arrested in ICE raids this year.  Despite their claims that immigration agents would only be targeting violent criminals, Governor Glenn Youngkin and other state and local officials have so far been unable or unwilling to say if people swept up in the immigration crackdowns had been charged with any crimes, or to provide any other information about their names, their current whereabouts, or their US citizenship status. The libertarian CATO Institute says that 93% of immigrants taken by ICE have no violent criminal convictions, and 65% have no convictions of any kind (including minor traffic offenses).

“What we’re seeing is nothing short of a humanitarian crisis created by cruel and inhumane immigration enforcement practices,” said LaTwyla Mathias, Executive Director of Progress Virginia. “Families are being torn apart, rights are being trampled, and communities are living in fear, not because of justice, but because of political games. State and local leaders cannot sit on the sidelines while these abuses continue. We demand they stand up, speak out, and take immediate action to protect our immigrant neighbors from these relentless attacks.”

Background:

• About 13.2% of Virginia residents (more than one million people) were born someplace other than the United States, and 6.9% of US-born residents have at least one immigrant parent. 
• Virginia is one of the few Southern states that has seen its population grow and not fall in recent years; that number is largely driven by immigrants. 
• In Virginia, immigrants contribute approximately $18.3 billion in state and local tax revenue 
• Most immigration enforcement has taken place in Richmond and Fairfax County, following Donald Trump’s explicit pledge to focus enforcement efforts in Democratic cities. 
• ICE’s Virginia targeting strategy has also focused on sending masked, unidentified agents to arrest people in courthouses
• Recent polling has shown that record numbers of Americans say immigration is good for the country and disagree with the Trump administration’s deportation actions.