“I don’t know what you’re doing, what you’re watching, what you’re reading if you’re not outraged”, says RaeAnn, a protestor outside the Chesterfield County Courthouse where ICE has been detaining people this week.
According to NBC12, 14 people have ben detailed over the past few days after ICE descended on the Richmond area.
Chesterfield County Sheriff Karl Leonard says “All 14 were defendants appearing off the street for court appearances in our General District Court for a myriad of both misdemeanor and felony offenses”. Leonard shared in a social media statement.
About a dozen protestors have been on site daily, and they tell a different story of what is happening at the courthouse, “We discovered they were detaining people outside of the cashier’s desk. Which mean that after people were paying their parking tickets and their fines, they were being detained”, says RaeAnn.
Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) defended the operations in a statement to CBS6, saying there is a statewide collaboration between State Police, ICE, FBI, and DEA working to make sure that violent criminals who are here illegally are arrested.
Local representatives say it’s not violent criminals being detained. Misty Roundtree, who serves on the Henrico Board of Supervisors wrote on social media, “there are reports that these were largely folks on the traffic docket, there to pay tickets or to have their day in court on matters as small as slow-rolling a stop sign”.
Protestors have shared videos of masked men escorting people out of the courthouse and into white vans. “It does not seem orderly; it seems chaotic. They are being given access to private entrances and taking people out the back entrance”, says RaeAnn. She shared videos of ICE agents waving at the protestors. “They don’t care, they think this is a joke, they do not care”.
According to analysis by Axios, Virginia is one of five states where efforts to arrest and remove undocumented immigrants appear most aggressive.
Take Action
- Tell Governor Youngkin you don’t support the targeting of non-violent criminals in Virginia.
