PORTSMOUTH — As some cities in Hampton Roads, such as Chesapeake, are broadening cooperation with federal immigration authorities, Portsmouth Sheriff Michael Moore said his department won’t be expanding its existing agreements with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But that doesn’t mean the agency isn’t cooperating with ICE, according to Moore, who said it will continue to honor immigration detainers that aid federal authorities’ deportation efforts.
Moore’s decision comes as his agency was one of 33 Virginia localities scolded by a Department of Homeland Security memo that identified Portsmouth as a “sanctuary city” that was allegedly obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration law. DHS later deleted the list without explanation. Moore said the designation was incorrect.
“I really came to that conclusion after all that I’ve been seeing over the last few weeks,” Moore said. “It has just really, in my opinion, gotten out of control. I’m approaching almost four decades in law enforcement. I have never been involved with violating anyone’s due process of the law, their civil or their human rights.”
Sheriffs across the commonwealth are reevaluating existing policies to decide whether to sign onto new agreements with ICE. Among President Donald Trump’s first actions after taking office was an executive order reviving a decades-old program that trains and deputizes state and local law enforcement to act on behalf of ICE agents during routine law enforcement duties. The 287(g) program also allows local law enforcement the ability to detain individuals who are charged and booked on a crime and suspected of being in the country without proper documentation.
In February, Gov. Glenn Youngkin issued an executive order urging local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE’s immigration enforcement policies under the 287(g) program.
Youngkin’s order directs Virginia State Police to assemble a task force of law enforcement who will be trained and deputized by ICE, allowing law enforcement to act on ICE’s behalf in interrogating and detaining people. The order also allows ICE officials to use detention and processing facilities throughout the commonwealth. But since the governor can’t force independently elected sheriffs to follow the order, it requests — rather than directs — that they cooperate under the new guidance by signing onto the new agreements.
The 287(g) program has three models — task force, jail enforcement, and warrant service. ICE data shows as of Friday, 18 sheriffs’ offices across Virginia have signed agreements to implement at least one of those 287(g) programs. None are in Hampton Roads.
Portsmouth is choosing not to sign onto the new 287(g) agreements. In a letter submitted to ICE officials this week, Moore said Portsmouth was canceling its pending agreement for the warrant service model.
But he added that Portsmouth would follow guidance on the warrant service model component of the 287(g) agreement as it mirrors the city’s existing immigration enforcement policy. The warrant service model allows ICE to train and authorize local law enforcement to serve administrative warrants on undocumented immigrants in the agency’s jail.
Moore emphasized to The Virginian-Pilot that the Portsmouth Sheriff’s Office has longstanding policy in cooperating with ICE and will continue to abide by it, and that updating an agreement isn’t necessary. He confirmed the jail does honor ICE detainers, which are requests to local law enforcement to hold a person in custody for 48 hours past their scheduled release to give federal authorities time to pick them up them for possible deportation proceedings.
Moore also sees immigration as a non-issue in Portsmouth as he knows of only two ICE detainers served in Portsmouth throughout his 8-year tenure.
Last week, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Portsmouth was in the final stages of signing off on the 287(g) agreement. Moore’s reversal was heralded by Sen. Louise Lucas, a Democrat from Portsmouth. She posted Moore’s letter on social media, saying she supported his decision “disassociating himself from the draconian measures being forced on localities all across the nation.”
Moore told The Pilot he didn’t receive blowback or pressure from anyone, including Lucas, to reverse course. Rather, he “was up all night” this week contemplating what he’s seeing across the nation with escalated immigration enforcement tactics, and didn’t want to be complicit in any violations of due process or civil rights.
“A lot of the citizens do not understand when they hear ICE and your participation with ICE, the first thing that comes to your mind, I think majority of the time, is what they see on the evening news and what they’re reading in the paper about all these roundups. And that would never have been our participation,” Moore said. “We’re not going out, knocking down doors, just arresting people, handcuffing people and loading them on the planes.”
But if localities sign up for new agreements with ICE, legal experts said they could face new legal liabilities. In the past, federal courts have found some local law enforcement agencies liable for unconstitutional detentions under ICE detainers. Last year, New York City agreed to pay $92 million in damages to immigrants who were unlawfully detained beyond scheduled release dates.
Alex Kornya with the national Legal Aid Justice Center said signing onto the new agreements means localities can now be sued in federal court for acting on behalf of federal agents. And there’s no guarantee in the agreements, he said, that ICE will cover those court or defense costs.
“ICE not only does not provide funding, but they also explicitly in their contracts say that they do not promise to defend you if you, with minimal training, go out there and mess something up and get sued,” Kornya said. “And certainly ICE gets sued for wrongful arrests and other issues all the time.”
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com