Mayor Alyia Gaskins and the City Council are calling on the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office to stop transferring inmates to immigration enforcement unless required by law.
Following months of pressure from activists critical of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — including a protest during an Oct. 18 public hearing — Gaskins and the Council publicly asked Sheriff Sean Casey to stop transferring Alexandria inmates to ICE custody via the agency’s detainers and administrative warrants.
“While we acknowledge our Sheriff’s Department is not participating in other active enforcement options available to them, we call upon the Sheriff to cease his transfer of persons in his custody in response to ICE administrative detainers and warrants … Given the ICE tactics we have observed already here in Alexandria and around the country, we ask him to reconsider his current practice,” Gaskins said at the end of the City Council meeting last night (Wednesday).
The statement comes after Casey’s office recently confirmed that 40 Alexandria inmates had been transferred to ICE custody between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31. The office made 43 transfers in all of 2024, and 33 transfers in 2023.
The transfers were not made in accordance with judicial warrants, which a sheriff is legally required to honor, but rather ICE’s administrative detainers and warrants, which are voluntary, according to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.
“We do not allege that the Sheriff’s practice is unconstitutional though we note it is voluntary,” Gaskins said.
Gaskins and the Council recommended that Casey’s office model its ICE policies on those in Fairfax and in Arlington, which also further restricted its police interactions with ICE back in May.
Advocacy group ICE Out of Alexandria told ALXnow that its members “are thankful that our city leaders have listened to their constituents and have come out publicly against Sheriff Casey’s voluntary collaboration with ICE.”
“The Mayor and Council statement corroborates what we’ve been saying for months, Sheriff Casey is choosing to voluntarily collaborate with ICE,” the coalition wrote.
“But he has the power to stop doing so at any moment,” the group added. “We urge Sheriff Casey to reconsider his policy to transfer people to ICE without a judicial warrant.”
This morning (Thursday), the Sheriff’s Office responded to Gaskins and the Council, doubling down in a new statement maintaining it does not “enforce immigration law.”
“I have said many times that I do not—and will not—enforce immigration law in our community. I refused the Governor’s directive, ended a contract with ICE, and remain committed to building trust with all residents, especially our immigrant neighbors.
Despite years of discussion with City Councils dating back to 2017, they remain confused about the difference between a lawful arrest warrant and an ICE detainer. This has led to unfair and inaccurate suggestions that the Sheriff’s Office is acting like ICE in our community, which is simply not true.
As Alexandria’s Sheriff, I have been—and remain—committed to keeping our community safe by following well-established federal and state laws surrounding immigration. This approach adheres fully to the law and is consistent with the long-standing and recently reaffirmed City Council resolution, as well as the actions of the majority of sheriffs in Virginia.”
A Nov. 5 statement on the Sheriff’s Office website maintains it does not “collaborate” with ICE, nor does it “comply with ICE detainers by holding any inmate past their release date,” as activists alleged this year. In August, the office said in a statement that it “will not transfer custody based on an ICE detainer alone.”
The full text of Gaskins’ statement is below.
Alexandria has always been and will continue to be a diverse, inclusive, and welcoming community. We are made stronger by the many immigrants and immigrant communities that reside, work, go to school and socialize in Alexandria. While this Council remains committed to insuring the public safety of our residents and to Alexandria as the safe place to live, work and play that it is today, supporting and safeguarding our immigrant communities while maintaining public safety are not mutually exclusive goals. The City remains firmly committed to upholding the Constitution and the rule of law while ensuring that all residents, including members of our immigrant communities, are protected and treated with fairness and dignity
Given the current federal administration’s view towards immigration enforcement and the tactics of fear, intimidation and lack of due process employed currently by ICE, the City Council finds it necessary to affirm that we do not support any voluntary participation by the Sheriff’s office in ICE immigration procedures. While we acknowledge our Sheriff’s department is not participating in other active enforcement options available to them, we call upon the Sheriff to cease his transfer of persons in his custody in response to ICE administrative detainers and warrants. We ask that he join the Sheriffs in Arlington and Fairfax who only complete transfers in compliance with judicial warrants.
As a Council, each of us has shared individually and collectively that we disagree with the Sheriff’s current practice. We recognize that the Sheriff’s Office is an independently elected constitutional office possessing the discretion to determine whether to honor such administrative warrants. We also recognize as well that this program has been in place under previous Democratic and Republican Presidential administrations and prior Sheriffs. We do not allege that the Sheriff’s practice is unconstitutional though we note it is voluntary. Given the ICE tactics we have observed already here in Alexandria and around the country, we ask him to reconsider his current practice and cease any transfer of inmates pursuant to ICE administrative warrants and detainers.
In the meantime, as a Council, we will continue to stand in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors and explore policies to protect the safety of all in our community.
This story has been updated to include a new statement from the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office.
