Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin threatened to work with federal immigration law enforcement officers to withhold local government funds.
The proposal comes as the governor seeks to eliminate federal “sanitary cities”, which chose to protect immigrants without legal status rather than working with federal officials to enforce immigration laws.
Youngkin first proposed the idea of withholding funds in December. The governor now recommends it as an amendment to the national budget. General Assemblyaccording to Fox 5 DC.
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Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin threatens to withhold state funds from local governments through the “sanitation city” policy. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg by Getty Images)
The proposal will ensure that state funding will not be used in county or urban “sanitation city” policies, such as ignoring detainee requests implemented by immigration and customs.
Governor specifically criticizes Democratic-run counties Northern Virginiaincluding Fairfax. He said adequate cooperation in immigration enforcement must be done to continue to obtain funds.
“It’s not a decision people make locally,” Fox 5 DC said. “It’s to improve all of our security. We are not a refuge, so we don’t support places declared as sanctuary cities.”
Youngkin said adequate cooperation must be carried out in immigration enforcement so that funds are not retained. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, file)
Fairfax County Supervisory Board Chairman Jeff McKay told FOX 5 DC that Youngkin’s plan effectively “appropriates funds to police” because he claimed Fairfax County is not a “sanctuary city” and asserted that officials follow all laws for detainees.
“Ultimately, he means that if you disagree with his definition of a non-lawyer in ‘sanitation city’, that could affect your law enforcement agency, and he does that because he is accusing a major crime that is happening.”
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The convention with a Democratic majority will accept the governor’s proposal next week. (Brian Cox/US Immigration and Customs Enforcement by Getty Images)
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Democrat Virginia Speaker Don Scott accuses the governor of “submission” to the Trump administration, which attempts to implement the president’s plan Massive expulsion of foreigners.
The convention with a Democratic majority will accept the governor’s proposal next week.
