Dear Friends, Tomorrow, March 1st, my HB 481 will be up for a vote in the Virginia Senate. HB 481 will stop Virginia localities from creating sanctuary cities for those jailed for other crimes who are in the U.S. illegally. Arlington County already has a policy in place to deny ICE detainer requests.
HB 481 says: - A jail or regional detention center may not release an illegal alien from incarceration before the end of their term of incarceration – for whatever reason, when Immigration Customs Enforcement has made a timely request that the individual be turned over to ICE via an ICE agent or other federal law enforcement.
- The prisoner with an ICE detainer request may not be held past their regular release date except where required by state or federal law (up to 48 hours to comply with an ICE request).
- There is no penalty or compensation award in this bill.
- According to a 2014-15 FOI from ICE, there are eleven localities in VA that released 29 alien prisoners without complying with an ICE detainer request. Over half of those released had prior criminal histories.
The purpose of HB 481 is to prevent what happened to Kate Steinle in California from happening in Virginia. On July 1, 2015, Kate Steinle and her dad were walking on a crowded waterfront in San Francisco. She was shot and killed by Juan Sanchez-Lopez, who was in America illegally, who had several prior felony convictions and who had previously been deported back to Mexico 5 times.
The U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement Agency had requested that San Francisco sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi detain Mr. Sanchez-Lopez for possible deportation. Sheriff Mirkarimi declined to honor the detainer request from ICE because the City of San Francisco has a policy of providing such individuals with that they call "sanctuary" from federal requests for deportation and because the sheriff did not recognize ICE detainers as legal documents.
As an aside, Sheriff Mirkarimi was voted out of office in the November 2015 election.
Please ask your Senator to support HB 481 tomorrow! To find out who your Senator is and get contact information click here. Thank you for your support!
Sincerely, 
Delegate Bob Marshall | | |
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