Spanberger’s ICE Restrictions Dealt Major Setback as Judge Warns Other Blue States

A judge paused a key part of Virginia’s new restrictions on local cooperation with federal immigration authorities, handing Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration a major legal setback as a similar fight plays out in neighboring Maryland.

George H.W. Bush-appointed Judge Robert Payne on Monday blocked a key piece of a law signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger that heavily restricts interagency cooperation and would have required local sheriffs to modify or dissolve their individual policies, known as 287(g) agreements, by a Tuesday deadline.

Payne ruled the federal government is likely to prevail on several claims in its lawsuit against Virginia, finding “the Virginia 287(g) Law violates the Contracts Clause [of the] U.S. Constitution because it is a ‘substantial impairment’ of the existing contracts between the federal government and Virginia localities.”

Payne did not strike down the law but paused its implementation as the feds’ case against Richmond proceeds.

He also found that Virginia’s law wrongly attempts to “regulate conduct of federal law enforcement in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”

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