This past weekend undocumented immigrants across Virginia braced for raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As of Tuesday those threats appear not to have materialized. Still advocates say there’s been an uptick in safety checkpoints.
Immigrant advocates in Virginia say they’ve gotten reports of police checkpoints where ICE agents are present and asking for documentation in Northern Virginia, the Shenandoah Valley, and around Richmond and Jamestown.
“There is a level of racial profiling that goes along with these checkpoints, where people are asked for their papers…only if they look a certain way,” says Reverend Leonina Arismendi, an immigrant advocate.
Arismendi says reports of ICE raids, which were confirmed last weekend by Trump administration officials, may be a distraction tactic. Advocates educate and prepare undocumented immigrants for how to protect themselves at home, when they really may be stopped elsewhere.
“We’re all... looking for raids, we’re teaching about how to respond to raids,” says Arismendi. “But this kind of takes you by surprise when you’re preparing for one thing and they’re doing something different.”
Regardless of whether raids happen, the threat of them still have an effect. People don’t go to work or leave home. A spokesperson for the group New Virginia Majority says many stayed away from the “Lights for Liberty” rally at the state capitol this past weekend out of fear.
“It’s traumatic,” says Arismendi. “Things that people have to constantly relive. You have to have your safety plans. You have to go over rules.”
An ICE spokesperson wouldn’t confirm or provide details of any ICE operations, but wrote they prioritize the arrest and removal of “unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat,” adding that anyone in violation of immigration laws may be subject to deportation.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
