If there are really no sanctuary cities or counties in Virginia, the Commonwealth\u2019s most populous county sure has some strange ways of showing it.<\/p>\n
First, just over a year ago, Fairfax County\u2019s Board of Supervisors passed a \u201cStatement on Diversity and Inclusion\u201d resolution<\/a>.\u00a0 Long on touchy-feely rhetoric and short on specifics, it nonetheless made clear that the county\u2019s law enforcement agencies would be focusing on \u201ccommunity policing rather than \u2026 immigration enforcement.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, turning a blind eye to illegal aliens, regardless of how much the county might still absurdly proclaim<\/a>, \u201cFairfax County is not a Sanctuary County or Sanctuary City.\u201d<\/p>\n Next, Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid announced<\/a> in January that she would no longer be honoring immigration detainers.\u00a0 Detainers are requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold criminal aliens for up to 48 hours after they\u2019re released on their local charges so that ICE has time to pick them up, and they are vital to keeping criminal aliens off the streets where they can reoffend.\u00a0\u00a0 Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova (D-At Large) applauded<\/a> this reckless move. \u00a0Unsurprisingly, so did \u00a0the illegal alien lobby organization CASA, which hailed it as<\/a> \u201ca victory\u201d and a \u201cstep in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n Not to be outdone by the sheriff, on April 3, the Board of Supervisors\u2019 Public Safety Committee took an unprecedented next step \u2013 denying U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) representatives the chance to even speak<\/a> at the Committee\u2019s meeting.\u00a0 ICE official Barbara Gonzalez<\/a>, who had been scheduled<\/a> to speak, reacted with shock, asking<\/a>, \u201c[t]his is America, and you\u2019re censoring a federal law enforcement agency and a partner?\u201d<\/p>\n When some members of the Board tried to direct comments or questions to the ICE personnel still seated in the gallery, Chairwoman Bulova interjected<\/a>, \u201cI\u2019ve got the floor.\u201d This statement appears to encapsulate the opinions of many of Fairfax County\u2019s elected officials who seem to oppose ICE simply for enforcing the nation\u2019s immigration laws.<\/p>\n Fairfax will soon look even more like the sanctuary jurisdictions of Montgomery<\/a> and Prince George\u2019s<\/a> Counties across the Potomac in Maryland: overrun by MS-13 and other criminal alien gangs. Indeed, as Board member Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) noted<\/a>, based on information from law enforcement, \u201cfrom Jan. 2014 to Oct. 2017 \u2026 there were 49 homicides in Fairfax County and 17 of them involved gang-affiliated suspects.\u00a0 That amounts to roughly 35 percent of homicides being connected to gang activity fueled by illegal immigration.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, during last year\u2019s gubernatorial campaign, both major party candidates<\/a> and the media repeatedly parroted the talking point that<\/a> \u201cVirginia has no sanctuary cities.\u201d\u00a0 They said it<\/a> so often<\/a> that a lot of people probably even believed it.\u00a0 But Fairfax County\u2019s actions speak much louder than words.