immigration | ARLnow.com

Coalition including Arlington’s top prosecutor pledges accountability if feds commit crimes

Published January 29, 2026 at 3:45PM

Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti at an anti-ICE rally in Courthouse this month (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

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.

News

Del. Lopez introduces bills to limit immigration enforcement at polling places and schools

By Emily Leayman

Published January 29, 2026 at 10:00AM

Del. Alfonso Lopez 2025 campaign kickoff (staff photo by Scott McCaffrey)

Del. Alfonso Lopez (D-3) is proposing several pieces of legislation to place restrictions on federal immigration enforcement in Virginia, including at sensitive locations like schools and polling places.

One bill introduced by Lopez would prohibit federal immigration enforcement within 40 feet of polling places, as well as near local electoral board locations to certify or recount election results. Activities like loitering and handing political materials are already restricted within 40 feet of polling places, but immigration enforcement is not explicitly mentioned under current Virginia law.

News

County Board members advise calling 911 if residents see ICE in Arlington

By Scott McCaffrey

Published January 26, 2026 at 10:00AM

ICE agents on N. Piedmont Street in Ashton Heights (staff photo by Katie Taranto)

If Arlington residents see immigration enforcement operating in the county, some local elected officials are advising them to call 911.

County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti and Board member Takis Karantonis encouraged calling the emergency number. De Ferranti noted at a meeting on Saturday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents “have no legal requirement to tell us when they come into our community.”

News

Hundreds rally in Courthouse to protest ICE shooting of Minneapolis woman

By Dan Egitto

Published January 12, 2026 at 10:00AM

Anti-ICE demonstrators rally in Courthouse on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2025 (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

Hundreds of demonstrators rallied with Arlington officials in Courthouse yesterday (Sunday) in protest of immigration enforcement killing a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis.

“I have dedicated 24 years of my life protecting Arlington because I believe law enforcement is supposed to protect the community by building trusting relationships,” Arlington Sheriff Jose Quiroz told the crowd gathered in Courthouse Plaza. “ICE is doing the opposite. The way they are operating does not keep us safe.”

News

After church rebuke of immigration enforcement, Arlington bishop calls for common ground

By Dan Egitto

Published November 20, 2025 at 10:00AM

Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge (courtesy of the Diocese of Arlington)

Arlington’s Roman Catholic bishop is emphasizing both border security and humanitarian issues after helping to write a rare rebuke of immigration enforcement nationwide.

In an interview on the Diocese of Arlington’s podcast this week, Bishop Michael Burbidge defended the special statement on immigration that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops approved in a 216-5-3 vote last week — but particularly stressed the need to safeguard national interests while supporting immigrant communities.

News

Arlington nonprofit celebrates 25 years of serving immigrant communities

By Scott McCaffrey

Published October 17, 2025 at 1:45PM

SEEC leaders cut cake to mark 25th anniversary (staff photo by Scott McCaffrey)

Leaders of the Shirlington Employment and Education Center used its 25th-birthday celebration to further commit to supporting the people that the organization helps.

SEEC, as it is known, provides “trust, hard work and hope” for the county’s immigrant population, board chair Chris Concepcion said at an Oct. 10 dinner held at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church.

Around Town

Local photographer documents Ballston construction crew across months of hard-won progress

By Katie Taranto

Published October 10, 2025 at 2:52PM

UrbA II site construction workers (photo courtesy of David Moss)

A tight-knit construction crew’s months of labor and progress in Ballston are the subject of an online photo album by a neighborhood photographer.

Since the spring, David Moss has captured dozens of scenes conveying the teamwork and physical feats of construction workers at the UrbA phase II redevelopment site next to Harris Teeter, where a 197-unit apartment building is getting built at 600 N. Glebe Road.

News

Local church and artist memorialize Arlington ICE arrests with ‘stumbling stickers’

By Katie Taranto

Published August 20, 2025 at 3:45PM

Sushmita Mazumdar and the Rev. Ashley Goff place a stumbling sticker on the sidewalk along S. Buchanan Street (staff photo by Katie Taranto)

A new collaboration between a South Arlington church and a local artist is seeking to memorialize places where immigration enforcement has arrested people in Arlington.

Led by the Rev. Ashley Goff, members of Arlington Presbyterian Church, artist Sushmita Mazumdar and other “trusted neighbors” set out yesterday (Tuesday) to locations where residents have documented recent detainments by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

News

Beyer and DHS trade blows after congressman visits immigration detention center

By Dan Egitto

Published August 12, 2025 at 10:00AM

Protesters call for the release of an ICE detainee in May (staff photo by Dan Egitto)

Arlington’s congressman is quarreling with the Department of Homeland Security following a visit to one of Virginia’s immigration detention centers.

The federal department publicly criticized U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D) in a press release after he visited Farmville Detention Center on Friday. It accused him of prioritizing detainees with criminal convictions over crime victims.

News

Justice Department no longer calls Arlington a ‘sanctuary jurisdiction’

By Dan Egitto and The Associated Press

Published August 7, 2025 at 8:30AM

Anti-ICE protesters outside of county government headquarters in 2022 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The Department of Justice has a new list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” that it accuses of impeding federal immigration enforcement — and Arlington isn’t on it.

The Justice Department previously included Arlington on a much longer list of “sanctuary jurisdictions,” which included 19 Virginia counties and 13 cities in the commonwealth and hundreds of others nationwide.

News

Arlington County can’t regulate local ICE operations, legal staff say

By Scott McCaffrey

Published July 30, 2025 at 10:00AM

ICE agents on N. Piedmont Street in Ashton Heights (staff photo by Katie Taranto)

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.

News

Head of ICE targets Arlington sheriff’s office over detainer for twice-deported sex offender

By Dan Egitto

Published July 21, 2025 at 3:45PM

Arlington County courthouse on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 (staff photo by James Jarvis)

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is taking aim at the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office following a recent immigration arrest in Courthouse.

David Cabrera, an undocumented immigrant who pleaded guilty to the attempted rape of Arlington teenager in 2014, was detained by ICE agents outside the Arlington County magistrate’s office earlier this month.