Around Town

A family-owned Vietnamese restaurant and the last remaining business from Clarendon’s Little Saigon community is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

Tucked in a storefront near the corner of Wilson Blvd and N. Hudson Street, Nam-Viet Restaurant — started in July 1986 by the late Nguyen Van Thoi and his widow, Ngoc Anh Tran — carries on the legacy of what was once a hub of Vietnamese immigrant-owned businesses that opened in the neighborhood following the fall of Saigon in 1975.


News

An Arlington probation officer warned a judge last year that a local man — now charged with attempted rape — was on the verge of a slippery slope of increasing violent crime.

Luzvin Orvando Garcia Moran, whose arrest has also caught the attention of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) because of his immigration status, remains in jail following a violent attack in Clarendon.


News

A bill from Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-3) seeking to limit law enforcement collaboration with federal immigration enforcement has received minor adjustments from Gov. Abigail Spanberger.

Lopez’s HB 1441, and companion bill SB 783, ban state and local law enforcement agreements with federal immigration enforcement and limit when state and local law enforcement can cooperate.


News

Another wave of “No Kings” protests will be taking place along several high-visibility areas in Arlington on Saturday.

They’re part of over 3,000 similar events happening around the country on the same day, protesting the Trump administration and its tactics. Culminating in a large afternoon protest along an eight-mile stretch of Glebe Road, the actions will follow similar demonstrations last June and October.


News

A bounty hunter has pleaded guilty to illegal brandishing in an incident where he is accused of unlawfully detaining a Green Valley resident, falsely claiming to have a warrant for his immigration arrest.

Matthew Mallory has also entered a no contest plea to a charge of trespassing in connection to the June incident, where prosecutors say he lied about having a document from the Department of Homeland Security in order to enter a home and detain a victim at gunpoint.


News

An Arlington-based nonprofit that intervened in Virginia’s federal court case over in-state tuition for undocumented students is now awaiting a judge’s decision.

The Dream Project is watching the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia after a joint agreement challenging Virginia’s law was invalidated last Friday, Zuraya Tapia-Hadley, the nonprofit’s CEO and an Arlington School Board member, told ARLnow.


News

Arlington officials say they’re taking action behind the scenes to be ready for any possible surge in immigration enforcement locally.

“We have to be prepared,” Arlington County Board member Julius “JD” Spain, Sr., said at the Board’s Feb. 21 meeting. “We don’t want what happened in other parts of our nation to happen here, but if it does happen, we need to be prepared.”


News

Democratic-led states are increasingly pushing back against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown — and Virginia is the latest to join in.

The Virginia Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that would place hefty guardrails on any proposed 287(g) agreements allowing local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration functions. The bill still must go to the House.


Schools

A walkout in protest of immigration enforcement is in the works next week at several Arlington Public Schools facilities.

It’s unclear how large or widespread it will be, although tipsters have said action is planned at all major high schools in Arlington on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 1:30 p.m., as well as some middle schools at a later time that afternoon.


News

Banging drums and shouting into megaphones to the blares of a trumpet, protesters broke the stillness of a sleepy morning in a North Arlington neighborhood today (Thursday).

The crowd of about 50 anti-ICE activists arrived at the home of Hilton President and CEO Christopher Nassetta around 7 a.m. They were protesting the hotel chain allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to stay at its properties in Minneapolis and elsewhere in the country.


Around Town

A Fairlington resident from Minnesota has been providing snow shoveling services in exchange for donations supporting immigrants in the Twin Cities.

Megan Moos Detweiler, a teacher and Fairlington resident who grew up on the East Side of St. Paul, Minn., launched the “Shovel ICE Out” fundraiser to help immigrant families at her alma mater, Mississippi Creative Arts Elementary. Since last weekend’s storm, it has received about 300 donations, including $5,600 through GoFundMe.


News

A coalition of progressive prosecutors including Arlington’s commonwealth’s attorney is promising to share strategies and pursue accountability for any illegal actions by federal agents.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti — alongside Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano and prosecutors from Minneapolis, Philadelphia and other jurisdictions — announced the Fight Against Federal Overreach (FAFO) project yesterday (Wednesday). The initiative aims to “rein in unlawful conduct” amid a growing presence of federal immigration and law enforcement in communities across the country.


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