The Gordonsville Town Council has voted to terminate its agreement with ICE.
In May, public safety department chief Christopher Votaw entered into a memorandum of agreement with the federal law enforcement agency as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s 287(g) program. The task force model of the program, of which Gordonsville is a part, allows officers to enforce immigration laws during everyday activities like traffic stops or as an active participant in an ICE taskforce. The department also receives specialized training, access to the DHS database and other information, salary and technology stipends for officers and federal funding for police vehicles. Officers have to be off-duty for the town before they can work an ICE assignment and more recently it was decided that town officers would not participate in operations outside of town limits.
Votaw said the town’s participation provides coordination and communication, as well as access to specialized training and federal information systems giving officers greater detail about the individuals they encounter during routine law enforcement operations.
“This matters for public safety,” he said. “A working relationship gives us a mechanism to communicate, provide local knowledge, identify safety concerns and coordinate our response.”
Several months ago, an ICE operation occurred in the Town of Orange near Porterfield Park. Neither the town nor the county police were aware of it prior to it occurring.
The agreement quickly became a topic of discussion with many voicing their opposition and concerns. Although declining to participate in the 287(g) program will not prevent immigration action within town limits since ICE is a federal agency and supersedes local and state law, folks said they don’t favor the formal agreement. In a survey issued by town council to garner feedback from town residents, 109 responses were received with 65 acknowledging they lived in town. Of those 65, 22 or 33.85% supported the agreement while 43 or 66.15% did not. Comments received in the survey showed a distrust of ICE, concerns over their treatment of people and racial profiling, a feeling of being unsafe and a lack of transparency surrounding the signing of the agreement. Those in support of the agreement commented they felt safer especially with Gordonsville being a major transportation route and officers having access to immigration databases.
Council members met in pairs with an ICE contact. That contact served as the town’s liaison, but is unable to be named due to federal regulations. Information was relayed that there had been nine immigration encounters in Gordonsville since the agreement was finalized. Of those, two were not arrested and released and seven were arrested due to previous deportations and illegal activity. The contact also communicated several assurances including prior notification to Gordonsville Police before conducting any operations in town; the prohibition of any raids in town with enforcement focused on individuals who have committed serious or violent offenses; and officers would not participate in activities outside of town limits. The assurances were verbal and not written.
In a prepared statement, mayor Ron Brooks suggested documenting the measures Votaw had already put into place and communicated by the ICE contact including not participating outside town limits; advance notification to Gordonsville Police prior to conducting any activity in town; no raids in town; crime-focused policing; no racial profiling and public accountability with Votaw reporting immigration-related encounters and arrests to council in open session each month. Violation of any of the measures would result in an emergency council meeting to terminate the agreement.
Council member Nick Paxton said solid assurances aren’t just verbal. He said he had thought long and hard about the agreement and discussed it with a number of people. While he said he could see positive and negative aspects, he ultimately thought about public trust. He did say he would be open to potentially revising an agreement with any force or agency to make it more written on paper.
“I think that’s a huge concern for most folks that are against this,” Paxton said. “Everything is said rather than written.”
Council member Cyd Black said the council members have to listen to what folks have said about the agreement and their concerns.
Council member Stevean Irving, II said while he appreciated the survey responses, he would have liked it to have captured a larger number of residents. He said the in-town responses represent 4% of the town’s population which isn’t enough.
Brooks reiterated that ending the town’s agreement with ICE would not assuage many of the concerns which are instead satisfied on a federal level with who is put into office. He also said he doesn’t support raids including what happened in Greene County which he said was 100% profiling.
A motion to terminate the agreement was made by Paxton and seconded by vice mayor Emily Winkey. The motion was approved 3-2 with Brooks and Irving dissenting.
