Members of the Virginia National Guard are expected to be deployed across the state, including Northern Virginia, in September to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin called up the National Guard earlier this month to mobilize approximately 60 soldiers and airmen to provide administrative and logistics support to ICE.
Immigrant rights groups blasted the move by Youngkin for furthering the Trump administration’s attack on immigrants.
According to a press release from the Virginia National Guard, the soldiers will not conduct law enforcement functions or make arrests. Their tasks could include “answering phones, data entry, appointment scheduling, biometric collection, basic vehicle maintenance, and tracking fleet expenses and utilization.”
The National Guard personnel “will report directly to ICE leadership at their assigned duty locations but remain under the control and direction of the Virginia Governor and Adjutant General of Virginia,” the release states.
“Deploying the Virginia National Guard to assist ICE is a dangerous misuse of state resources and a direct attack on immigrant communities,” said Eduardo Zelaya, Virginia Organizing Director of CASA, an immigrant rights group to Annandale Today.
“Instead of protecting Virginians, this decision fuels fear, tears families apart, and erodes the trust between residents and those sworn to serve them,” Zelaya said.
“Gov. Youngkin claimed that by ordering Virginia’s National Guard to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he somehow isn’t ordering it to ‘do the ICE job’ – but that’s a fantasy,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Mary Bauer.
