A judge paused a key part of Virginia’s new restrictions on local cooperation with federal immigration authorities, handing Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration a major legal setback as a similar fight plays out in neighboring Maryland.
George H.W. Bush-appointed Judge Robert Payne on Monday blocked a key piece of a law signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger that heavily restricts interagency cooperation and would have required local sheriffs to modify or dissolve their individual policies, known as 287(g) agreements, by a Tuesday deadline.
Payne ruled the federal government is likely to prevail on several claims in its lawsuit against Virginia, finding “the Virginia 287(g) Law violates the Contracts Clause [of the] U.S. Constitution because it is a ‘substantial impairment’ of the existing contracts between the federal government and Virginia localities.”
Payne did not strike down the law but paused its implementation as the feds’ case against Richmond proceeds.
He also found that Virginia’s law wrongly attempts to “regulate conduct of federal law enforcement in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
“At this point, saying ‘I told you so’ seems almost pointless,” Virginia House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, told Fox News Digital when responding to the news.
LEGAL EXPERT UNLEASHES ON SPANBERGER’S NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER TARGETING ICE: ‘POLITICAL THEATER’
Kilgore said Republicans repeatedly warned Spanberger’s administration that its limits on cooperation with ICE would waste taxpayer money and run into these kinds of legal problems.
“States cannot tell the federal government how to do its job. But Democrats refused to listen,” Kilgore said.
In that regard, Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va., drafted a bill at the federal level aimed directly at Spanberger’s law.
Cline’s 287(g) Cooperation Act would require state and local law enforcement to enter into interagency agreements with ICE as a condition of receiving federal Community-Oriented Policing (COPS) grants.
Additionally, all five of Virginia’s Republican members of Congress wrote Spanberger earlier this year urging her not to undo former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s statewide directive of Richmond-Washington cooperation on the immigration enforcement front.
The major setback to Democrats’ plans came as neighboring Maryland found itself in a similar legal fight, though a judge has not yet ruled in that case.
HOCHUL REMAINS DEFIANT AFTER SHERIFFS SUE OVER LAW BANNING COOPERATION WITH ICE: ‘BRING IT ON’
Gov. Wes Moore allowed a similar bill to become law earlier this year that would prevent most cooperation between local sheriffs and ICE. Despite Maryland being one of the bluest states in the union, the majority of its counties are geographically red.
That dynamic revealed itself as 17 of its 24 sheriffs, led by Harford County’s Jeffrey Gahler, Wicomico County’s Mike Lewis and Frederick County’s Charles Jenkins launched a lawsuit against the law.
“They want to do everything they can to handcuff law enforcement, handcuff sheriffs across the state,” Jenkins said in March.
Sen. Clarence Lam, D-Elkridge, a bill sponsor, argued the measure ensures local jails won’t be used as a “front door to the federal government’s oftentimes deportation pipeline,” according to Maryland Matters.
Lam’s Community Trust Act requires a court order to provide immigration-related information and to transfer inmates based on immigration status, according to the outlet.
SIGN UP TO GET THE POLITICS NEWSLETTER
Moore did not sign the legislation, but it became law after he notified Senate President Bill Ferguson IV, D-Baltimore, of his decision after the bill passed 32-15.
Gahler’s coalition later sued, setting up a potentially similar battle in Greenbelt federal court to the one making a splash across the Potomac.
Spanberger’s ICE restrictions dealt major setback as judge warns other blue states 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-09-02 19:39:34
Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
