Virginia's Republican governor is clashing with Democrats who run the General Assembly over the budget. And one of the flashpoints is immigration enforcement.
Senate Democrats are turning a Republican rallying cry on its head, saying Governor Glenn Youngkin wants to defund the police. Senate Democrats are rejecting his budget proposal to withhold funding from local sheriffs and police if they don't comply with federal directives from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"Virginia law already requires – already requires – local law enforcement to notify ICE when people are picked up and arrested on violent felonies, and they do it," says Majority Leader Scott Surovell. "The problem is, ICE doesn't come and pick them up. And that's not our problem; it's the federal government's problem."
Senator Mark Obenshain is a Republican from Rockingham County who says that may have been the case during the Biden years.
"Over the past four years, the federal government hadn't been picking up these violent felons," he says. "But I'm telling you what, there's a new sheriff in town, and they're going to be picking them up right now."
This week, the House and Senate are working through their versions of the budget. Then it'll go back to the governor for his changes before all the parties cut a deal in advance of the new fiscal year, which starts in July.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
