Members of the Virginia General Assembly will be back at the Capitol this week. And lawmakers will be considering legislation related to immigration.
A handful of budget amendments are causing alarm among advocates for immigrant rights, and they are calling on members of the General Assembly to reject suggested changes from Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin. Levi Goren at the Commonwealth Institute says one of the budget amendments would require sheriffs to detain people longer than their sentences.
"This amendment would require local jail officials to hold individuals up to 48 hours after they would have otherwise been released in order for ICE to potentially come pick those folks up," Goren says. "And it threatens our state funding for our local jails if they don't comply."
William Levwood at Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church says another budget amendment would convert a jail to an immigration detention facility.
"Amendment 192 would pave the way for immigration officials to use the Culpeper and Page County Correctional Facility to imprison them rather than to treat them with their inherent worth and dignity to treat them as neighbors," Levwood says.
These budget amendments, along with hundreds more, will be considered by the General Assembly this week as part of ongoing budget negotiations for a fiscal year that starts July 1st.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
