May 7, 2021 at 9:30am
Following the county government’s lead, Fairfax County Public Schools will soon prohibit voluntary cooperation between staff and Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the school board voted unanimously on Tuesday (May 5) to create a “School Trust Policy.”
Fairfax County School Board members say the new policy will align with the Trust Policy that the county adopted in January, which prohibits employees from giving federal immigration authorities information about a person’s immigration or citizenship status unless required by law or court order.
With the vote, some board members will start working with FCPS staff to develop the policy for full adoption in the near future. According to the school board, the new policy will be designed to help build confidence with immigrant families.
Daniella Cheslow
From Fairfax County Board Chair Jeff McKay, bottom right, says in a virtual press conference that his county will end voluntary cooperation with ICE. Screenshot/
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Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay, a Democrat, celebrated a new policy Friday that will cut off all voluntary cooperation and information sharing between local government, including police, and federal immigration authorities. This new policy overarches all other county departments and says all county agencies will not communicate with ICE when people in our community are coming to us for services, McKay said in a press conference simultaneously translated into Spanish. We re the first jurisdiction in Virginia to adopt a Trust Policy. I hope that we re not the last.
January 27, 2021 at 2:30pm
Fairfax County employees are now prohibited from providing information about a person’s immigration or citizenship status to federal immigration authorities unless required by law or court order.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 to adopt the new Public Trust and Confidentiality Policy yesterday (Tuesday) as part of a board matter introduced by Chairman Jeff McKay, Dranesville District Supervisor John Foust, and Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik.
While Fairfax County has long maintained that it does not assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unless mandated, McKay, Foust, and Palchik say the need to turn those guidelines into a formal policy has been heightened the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately affected local Latino communities in particular.
Employees in Fairfax County, Va. just outside of Washington, D.C. are officially prohibited from working with federal immigration agents, in a move to help illegal immigrants who reportedly avoided getting help during the COVID-19 pandemic for fear of being deported.
The long-standing practice known as the “Trust Policy” was formally adopted in a 9-to-1 vote by the county’s Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, the Washington Post reported. The rule bars any county employees from pursuing or sharing information about an individual’s immigration status, unless required by state or federal law, a court order, or judicial warrant.
Co-sponsored with Supervisors Dalia A. Palchik (D-Providence) and John W. Foust (D-Drainesville), the rule expands on move made by the Fairfax County police department last year that prohibits officers from asking individuals about their immigration status or providing information to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).