Police officer who turned immigrant over to ICE gets suspended, Virginia police chief says
A police officer who responded to a car crash in northern Virginia found one of the drivers had a warrant out from Immigration and Customs Enforcement for missing a deportation hearing, the Fairfax police chief said.
The officer called the ICE agent listed on the warrant and kept the man at the scene of the crash on Sept. 21 until immigration officials came to arrest him, the chief said. But that was against department policy, and now the officer has been suspended,according to a news release.
“Our officers shall not act as immigration agents,” Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler said in a statement released Tuesday. “Our county is one of the most diverse counties in the nation and no one should have the perception that FCPD is acting as a civil immigration agent for ICE.”
Roessler said the officer “has been relieved of all law enforcement duties” as the department investigates.
The chief said the county policy on federal immigration warrants is: “We do not enforce nor detain for administrative warrants and we have no authority to enforce federal law.”
ICE told the chief that the man was released three hours later with an ankle monitor, according to the department.
“As a matter of full transparency to our community – our police officer violated our longstanding policy and deprived a person of their freedom, which is unacceptable,” the chief said.
