ICE Out of Alexandria calls for sheriff's office to stop ‘collaborating with ICE'

Dozens of people gathered in Alexandria, Virginia, outside of the sheriff’s office Tuesday morning, alleging that the sheriff is working with ICE.

A group called ICE Out of Alexandria held a news conference and hand delivered a letter signed by 24 local groups and leaders. The letter demanded that Sheriff Sean Casey “end his practice of voluntarily collaborating with ICE.”

The group alleges the office collaborates with ICE in three ways:

1. Holding people longer to allow for ICE to pick them up
2. Making courtesy calls to ICE
3. Transferring people to ICE custody under administrative warrants and not judicial warrants

One person at the gathering said, “Sheriff Casey is under the misguided idea that he must comply with every request that comes from ICE. That is false.”

“No agency at the local level should collaborate with ICE, and let me be clear, any collaboration in our community is harmful, so let’s do better,” another person said.

News4 reached out to the sheriff’s office Tuesday morning for a response. A spokesperson referred us back to a statement released in August, saying in part, “We do not “collaborate” with ICE; we follow the law.”

“Virginia state law mandates communication with ICE and provides statutory authority for the lawful transfer of inmates in custody to ICE,” the statement said. “Accordingly, we are required and obligated to transfer inmates upon receipt of a lawful arrest warrant. This process is the same for all law enforcement agencies seeking custody of an inmate in our jail.”

The sheriff’s spokesperson told News4 on Tuesday that as of Aug. 31, based on recent data, about 1500 people have been arrested in all of Alexandria since the start of this year. Forty of those inmates were transferred to ICE custody.

Casey is running unopposed in the upcoming election. The group ICE Out of Alexandria hosts teach-ins several times a month to educate people on policies they would like the sheriff to change. They plan to host another meeting in October before the election on Nov. 4.

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