Arlington officials have no authority to regulate how state or federal agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, conduct local operations, legal staff say.
This includes whether or not ICE officers wear masks while detaining people.
“The county is not able to regulate what federal officers are doing,” Deputy County Attorney Ryan Samuel said in response to Board questioning on July 22.
That prohibition also applies to public safety officers of the commonwealth or Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), he said.
“Generally, the county can’t regulate what State Police or WMATA are doing,” Samuel said.
Local leaders have expressed concern about federal agents conducting immigration-enforcement efforts across Northern Virginia, often wearing masks and bearing no visible identification.
“For federal agencies, individual agencies set their own standards for whether officers are plain-clothed or masked,” Samuel said. “It’s up to each federal agency. There isn’t a general federal statute that governs it.”
At the July 22 Board meeting, Deputy Police Chief LaTasha Chamberlain said that, “most of the time,” law enforcement agencies notify Arlington of operations that they are about to conduct.
Chamberlain gave the following opinion on what an individual should do if targeted by a purported law-enforcement officer who is not showing identification.
“Comply with what’s being ordered at that particular time,” she said. “If they’re being given specific instructions, comply with those instructions. But then you can notify the [public-safety] communications center, and we will respond to the area.”
“I would only use 911 if there is an emergency, but if someone believes there is a circumstance that is suspicious, it is not unusual for us to get phone calls,” Chamberlain added.
County Board candidates tussle over ICE
At another recent meeting, two candidates for Arlington County Board sparred over their views on an immigration arrest in Courthouse earlier this month.
Independent candidate Audrey Clement used the Board’s public-comment period on July 19 to remark on comments that Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons made to Fox News on the arrest of David Cabrera.
Cabrera is an undocumented immigrant who pleaded guilty to the attempted rape of an Arlington teenager in 2014. ICE had previously deported Cabrera two times since 2017, court records show.
Lyons said that his agency had an active detainer out for Cabrera when he was arrested for an alleged probation violation last month. However, the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office told ARLnow that it released him because it hadn’t received a judicially signed warrant.
ICE arrested Cabrera outside the Arlington County magistrate’s office, in a move that provoked criticism from Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti.
“Here you have an aggravated felon that’s been deported multiple times … and Arlington County is releasing him back into the community. To reoffend again. It’s just not right and it doesn’t keep the public safe,” Lyons told Fox News.
Clement said she wished county officials, who recently restricted cooperation with federal agencies on immigration issues, would be more concerned about the community and public-safety officers.
“While there is little sympathy for ICE in sanctuary cities like Arlington, county police should be concerned about their own safety,” she said.
Responding later in the meeting, Karantonis was critical of both Clement’s appearance and Lyons’ comments.
“I feel personally as an immigrant offended by how insensitive your comment was,” he told Clement.
“Don’t take hook, line and sinker what you read on Fox News — this is blatantly misleading,” Karantonis said, without clarifying what in the coverage he viewed as incorrect.
Karantonis, a Democrat, faces Clement, Republican Bob Cambridge and independents Jeramy Olmack and Carlos De Castro “DC” Pretelt in the Nov. 4 election.
