<p class=ldtitle>A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Chapter 17 of Title 15.2 an article numbered 2.1, consisting of sections numbered 15.2-1730.2 through 15.2-1730.5, relating to agencies of the Commonwealth; law-enforcement agencies; employees and officers; agreements with federal authority for immigration enforcement; prohibitions and limitations.</p>
HB1438 would add a new article to Title 15.2 of the Code of Virginia governing how state and local agencies, especially law-enforcement agencies, may interact with federal immigration authorities. The bill prohibits agencies from entering into or renewing agreements that let officers perform federal immigration functions, from holding people past their release date based on immigration requests, from investigating or arresting people for federal immigration purposes except as otherwise required by law, and from assisting in federal immigration enforcement or engaging in non-mandatory communications with federal immigration authorities. It also requires existing written agreements of that kind to be terminated by September 1, 2026.
The bill further restricts individual officers and state employees while on duty by barring inquiries into citizenship, immigration status, or place of birth during stops, searches, or arrests; prohibiting transfers to federal immigration authorities unless required by law; and forbidding coercion or threats based on immigration status. At the same time, it preserves the ability to ask questions material to a criminal investigation, to notify individuals of protections tied to immigration status, and to comply with valid judicial warrants and other legal disclosure requirements. It also authorizes civil actions for equitable, injunctive, or declaratory relief for willful violations and directs the Attorney General to issue guidance on implementation.
The bill would create new statutory limits on the authority of Virginia agencies and law-enforcement personnel to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, effectively codifying a more restrictive state posture toward immigration-related detention, information-sharing, and interagency agreements. It would also require the termination of any existing written agreements that authorize officers to perform federal immigration functions, and it would expose violators to civil litigation while preserving remedies for unlawful arrests. The affected entities include state agencies, sheriffs' offices, police departments, probation and parole offices, corrections facilities, jail authorities, and other law-enforcement bodies defined in the bill.
Based on the bill text and its procedural history, the measure appears to be a policy-driven immigration enforcement restriction with no recorded committee debate or vote detail in the provided materials. The bill was later incorporated into another Public Safety measure, suggesting it was treated as part of a broader legislative package rather than advancing independently. Overall, the available context indicates a neutral-to-supportive procedural disposition, but there is not enough transcript or vote information here to identify a broader consensus or opposition pattern.
The main points of contention are likely to be whether Virginia should limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and whether local and state officers should be barred from asking about immigration status or honoring immigration-related requests to hold individuals beyond their release dates. Supporters would likely view the bill as protecting civil liberties, limiting entanglement in federal immigration enforcement, and reducing profiling or coercive practices. Opponents would likely argue it could hinder public safety cooperation, interfere with federal immigration enforcement, and create conflicts for sheriffs, jail administrators, and officers who work with federal authorities.