Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s ruling that police can check the immigration status of a person who is stopped or arrested is “pretty consistent” with one penned by Bob McDonnell in 2007, the governor said Tuesday.
McDonnell was Virginia’s attorney general when he wrote in his opinion that the state’s law enforcement officers have the authority to detain and arrest those who violate criminal immigration laws, but not civil laws, such as overstaying a visa.
“It is my opinion that Virginia law enforcement officers, including conservation officers, may, like Arizona police officers, inquire into the immigration status of persons stopped or arrested,” Cuccinelli wrote in response to a request from Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William.
Cuccinelli’s opinion has raised questions about whether Virginia is preparing to roll out a statewide law on immigration, akin to Arizona’s. Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart recently formed a political action committee to garner support for his Virginia Rule of Law Act, which would direct law enforcement to check someone’s status during a lawful stop or arrest where “reasonable suspicion” exists that the person is in the country illegally — unless doing so would hinder a criminal investigation.
A judge in Arizona blocked parts of that state’s law last week,including the section that would allow police to detain suspected illegal immigrants they had “reasonable suspicion” were in the country illegally.
McDonnell said, though, that based on his 2007 opinion, Virginia has already enacted a number of laws that incorporate a lot of what’s in the Arizona law.
“We already require law enforcement officers, at the point of arrest, to determine whether or not somebody’s illegally present in the United States,” he said.
Mary Ann Jennings, a spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Police Department, said she did not expect Cuccinelli’s opinion would affect the department’s policy that officers don’t inquire about legal status on routine traffic stops.
“Fairfax County is not a sanctuary,” she added, “and we do work very closely with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement],” particularly with violent criminals, repeat offenders and gang members.
Nothing in Arlington will change, either, said Detective Crystal Nosal. In Alexandria, things would be “business as usual” in the short term, said police spokesman Jody Donaldson, though he noted that the attorney general’s opinion still had to be looked at.
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