On Thursday May 14, the House Committee on the Judiciary, The Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement held a hearing on immigration and the interaction between local law enforcement agencies and federal immigration agents. A number of Turning the Tables members attended the hea ring. Unfortunately, as has often happened, it was a political show with grandstanding, with no real attempt to seriously probe and resolve the many serious problems with our immigration policies and its enforcement processes. The Republicans tried to show that Fairfax County’s handling of immigrants who enter the criminal system is lenient and does not protect the community. They claimed it led to the murder of a daughter of one of their witnesses, which is a horrific and sad tragedy. Democrats countered that Fairfax's policies have been shown by studies to improve the overall safety of the community. That statistically, Fairfax County is a safe community with a low crime rate compared to other municipalities of similar size. That the county does not treat the perpetrators of serious crime differently based on their immigration status. That the accused undocumented immigrant had been turned over by Fairfax County to ICE in 2018, where he remained in custody for 2 years, was never deported, then released back into the community in 2019.

How local communities interact with federal immigration authorities is an important and serious issue. There is no federal law obligating local law enforcement or agencies to help ICE. Local communities get to decide whether or not their law enforcement agencies get entangled with ICE and immigration enforcement. Such entanglement leads to using their local money and resources for doing a federal job. One that currently is funded at over 170 billion dollars by the Republicans in Congress. Entanglement also has safety and security side effects on the community.

The Constitution and federal law define the rights and protections concerning the arrest, detention, and treatment of individuals. The law requires judicial warrants. Holding people without a warrant after their sentence or detention is over, legally places the local authority, such as our Sheriff, in legal jeopardy. DHS is trying to bypass the use of judicial warrants, with drastic consequences with innocent people treated inhumanely and unlawfully.

ICE and BCP use mass sweeps based on racial profiling, and without regard to the safety or the security of the communities where they operate. The smashed car windows, grabbing of individuals, tear gassing, flash bangs, rubber bullets, killing of American citizens and immigrants, and the death of detainees all drive that point home. Immigrants make an immense contribution to our communities, our culture, our economy, and our well being. Yet our laws make it difficult for them to come to the US legally. They make it difficult for them to become open members of our society.

Our community here in Fairfax County, working with the local leaders we elected to govern us, created a policy to protect the immigrant members of our community from surveillance, intimidation, and harassment from federal immigration officers. Our community created and chose this policy because we valued the immigrant members of our community. They make up 30% of our population. We created and chose this policy because we believed it made all the members of our community safer, more secure, and more prosperous. These are local decisions and not the federal government’s. The Republican members of the subcommittee were out of bounds in trying to tell us how we are to govern ourselves, live our lives, and conduct our business.

The bedrock of local self-governance is the Tenth Amendment, which limits the federal government strictly to its enumerated powers. To protect this balance of power, the federal courts established the anti-commandeering doctrine. This principle states that while Congress can pass federal laws and direct federal agencies, like ICE, to execute them, the federal government cannot issue direct commands forcing state or local officials to administer or enforce a federal regulatory scheme. The Supreme Court in three landmark rulings shielded local governments from federal coercion.

At the federal level, we need Congress to ensure the Constitution and federal laws regarding immigration, asylum, detention, and deportation are followed, and violations investigated and stopped. We're working to make you and our representatives aware of these abuses, describing a path forward, and keeping a spotlight on the impediments and the impeders. It has been four decades since the last successful major immigration reform. That was the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986 which granted legal status (amnesty) to approximately 2.7 million undocumented immigrants who had lived in the U.S. continuously since before January 1, 1982. In exchange, it sought to eliminate the "economic magnet" drawing undocumented workers by making it illegal for employers to knowingly hire them, introducing the first-ever employer verification requirements.

At the state level, the Virginia General Assembly also needs to protect our citizens and the immigrant members of our state. This past session they passed legislation to do that. We will readdress the issues that failed to become law in the 2027 session.

So really addressing this issue won't be easy, but we need to make sure we're clear on the facts, educate ourselves and our communities, create a guiding vision, and drive for meaningful improvements. That's what we're doing and we'll try to keep you informed and surface relevant and timely calls-to-actions.

To learn more or get more engaged, we invite you to join our Immigration Working Group https://www.mobilize.us/indivisibleturningthetables/event/897029/.

Email your thoughts on immigration abuses, concerns, and potential solutions at: indtttimmigration@gmail.com. 

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Notes and Sources:

The summary of the hearing is based on the recollections and views of the Turning the Tables Immigration and Civil Rights Working Group members who attended the hearing.

For the video recording of the hearing see the House Committee on the Judiciary site:

Fairfax County, Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies

Hearing Date: Thu, 05/14/2026 - 10:00 AM

Location: 2141 Rayburn House Office Building

https://judiciary.house.gov/committee-activity/hearings/fairfax-county-virginia-dangerous-consequences-sanctuary-policies.

Local Policy Interventions For Protecting Immigrants

Published by The Immigrant Legal Resource Center | ILRC.ORG

https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/ilrc_local-policy-interventions_final.pdf

Immigration Detainers Legal Update

Key Court Decisions On Ice Detainers As Of July 2018

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/immig_detainer_legal_update-20180724.pdf

Plea Bargaining, Charging Decisions, and Sentencing Policy

December 15, 2020 Commonwealth’s Attorney Procedure Memorandum

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/commonwealthattorney/plea-bargaining-charging-decisions-and-sentencing-policy

Fairfax County Public Trust and Confidentiality Policy.

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/topics/trust-policy

People Power at Work in Fairfax: Limiting Local Government Cooperation with ICE.

ACLU Virginia.

July 20, 2017 Guest Blog by Diane E. Burkley Alejandro of the Fairfax Virginia People Power Group.

https://www.acluva.org/news/people-power-work-fairfax-limiting-local-government-cooperation-ice/

Detained Immigrants Detail Physical Abuse and Inhumane Conditions at Largest Immigration Detention Center in the U.S.

December 8, 2025, updated April 13, 2026 ACLU News by Haddy Gassama

https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/detained-immigrants-detail-physical-abuse-and-inhumane-conditions-at-largest-immigration-detention-center-in-the-u-s?ref=liberalcurrents.com

The collapse of bipartisan immigration reform: A guide for the perplexed

February 8, 2024 by William A. Galston

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-collapse-of-bipartisan-immigration-reform-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/

The Dignity Act of 2025: Bill Summary

July 15, 2025 by Christian Penichet-Paul

National Immigration Forum

https://forumtogether.org/article/the-dignity-act-of-2025-bill-summary/

Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Pub. L. No. 99-603, 100 Stat. 3359.

Search for "Public Law 99-603" on GovInfo.gov (maintained by the U.S. Government Publishing Office) to read the full codified text, or view its legislative history via Senate Bill 1200 (99th Congress) on Congress.gov.