Homeland Security Calls Out These Municipalities for Refusing to Comply With Immigration Enforcement

Is your community on “the list”?

The Department of Homeland Security has published a list designed to put 500 municipalities on notice for their continued refusal to comply with federal law when it comes to immigration enforcement.

“These sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

DHS said the leadership of each municipality will receive formal notification that the federal government has deemed them noncompliant and whether the locality is believed to be in violation of any federal criminal statutes.

The complete list was published Thursday on the department’s website: https://www.dhs.gov/sanctuary-jurisdictions.

Virginia’s list offers a few surprises, like Augusta County, which is seen as more conservative than the cities of Staunton or Waynesboro located within it, which were not on the list. In 2024, Donald Trump carried Augusta 73% to 25% (Kamala Harris won Staunton and lost by a much closer margin in Waynesboro).

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The Daily Signal reached out to Sheriff Donald Smith of Augusta for comment, but as of publication, he had not responded.

Albemarle County, also on the list, along with the city of Charlottesville, issued a statement saying, “The enforcement of federal law is the responsibility of the federal government, and Albemarle County complies with those laws.”

A former commonwealth’s attorney for Albemarle County, Robert Tracci, told The Daily Signal that during his 2016 to 2019 tenure, he “led successful efforts with [then-]Sheriff Chip Harding to maintain pre-release [criminal detainers] to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

The Virginia counties on the DHS list are Albemarle, Amherst, Arlington, Augusta, Brunswick, Charlotte, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Fairfax, Gloucester, Halifax, Hanover, Henrico, Martinsville, Middlesex, Prince William, Rappahannock, Richmond, Tazewell, and Warren.

The cities on the list are Abingdon, Alexandria, Charlottesville, Duffield, Hampton, Lynchburg, Manassas, Martinsville, Newport News, Portsmouth, Richmond, Tazewell, and Virginia Beach.