It looks like Virginia's new governor, Democrat Abigail Spanberger, is angling to make the commonwealth a Minnesota 2.0. In an entirely-expected development, the governor announced Wednesday that she is officially ending agreements put in place by her predecessor, Republican Glenn Youngkin, that allowed state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
On January 17, her first day in office, Spanberger granted herself the authority to cease cooperation between the state and ICE; Wednesday, she decided to wield the power she had bestowed upon herself. “These agreements improperly ceded discretion and authority over Virginia law enforcement to federal authorities,” Spanberger said in a statement. “I have full confidence that Virginia law enforcement agents are keeping Virginia safer when exercising their authority under Virginia law.”
Here's How Donald Trump Can Save Virginia (VIP)
Youngkin entered into what is known as a Section 287(g) agreement with ICE last March; this arrangement created a task force of federally deputized state law enforcement officers to “assist in the identification and apprehension of criminal illegal immigrants who pose a risk to public safety throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.” Then-Gov. Youngkin said at the time, “Dangerous criminal illegal immigrants should not be let back into our communities to assault, rape and murder. They should be sent back where they came from."
A rather fidgety-looking Spanberger addressed the media Wednesday, saying, "I issued Executive Order no. 12 that is focused on recognizing the value of policing here in the Commonwealth of Virginia and ensuring that there is clarity across the Commonwealth as it relates to basic principles that public trust is essential to the ability to conduct quality policing."
More from the governor here: https://t.co/bhlendzQwc pic.twitter.com/JDpudIFuaQ
— Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) February 4, 2026
Despite the word salad-y nature of her statement, what she's just done is crystal clear: she nuked the ability of the Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Corrections, the Virginia Conservation Police, and the Virginia Marine Police to aid the federal government in getting violent criminals of the illegal kind off the streets.
It's one of the few things Spanberger was honest about during her campaign. In a September sit-down with Larry Sabato at the University of Virginia, the new governor's alma mater, she promised to nuke Youngkin's 287(g) agreements.
Before election, extremist @GovernorVA announced she'd end 287(g) agreements -- at UVA w Sabato
— ((( 🫧 Charlottesville 🫧 ))) (@CvilleBubble) February 4, 2026
"I oppose any mandates that require localities to do the work of ICE officials"
VA had 32 agreements -- Now it's a Sanctuary Statehttps://t.co/eV8eVEWCFB pic.twitter.com/rAijGBFC7T
Spanberger told another media outlet before the election, “Our immigration system is absolutely broken,” she said. “The idea that we would take local police officers or local sheriff’s deputies in amid all the things that they have to do, like community policing or staffing our jails or investigating real crimes, so that they can go and tear families apart … that is a misuse of those resources.”
According to ICE detention numbers released in December, those "misused resources" led to 6,200 illegals being detained in Virginia as of last November.
White House Border Czar Tom Homan, a Virginia resident himself, has said the federal government will go around Spanberger – who, by the way, told her supporters on the campaign trail to "let your rage fuel you" – if she won't cooperate in the removal of illegals. Homan, who's currently cleaning up the Minneapolis mess created by anti-ICE Minnesota Democrats, remains determined to clean up other Democrat-run states, remarking, "They’re not going to stop us. They can stand on the sidelines and watch. Shame on them, but they’re not going to stop us from doing this mission.”
Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.
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