IT seems civil liberties, civil rights, human rights be damned per the ice and hsi thugs operating in Loudoun County with the same disregard for the law they practice across the country. It is unfortunate the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office is associated with fascist fotze kristi noem's Dept of Homeland Security because the communities trust in them and their reputation is being damaged. Supervisor Juli Briskman is right to publicly condemn the LCSO for becoming involved with ice and the alleged actions of some LCSO officers, Sheriff Chapman should investigate these accusations and disclose his findings. The best solution for the county and the LCSO would be for Sheriff Chapman to cancel the agreement with ice and concentrate on repairing the reputation of the LCSO and relations with the entire community. This from USA9 News
Loudoun County supervisor says 25 people have been taken from Sterling Immigration Court in past month
STERLING, Va. — Loudoun County Supervisor Juli Briskman sharply criticized the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office for working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a press release as tensions rise nationwide.
While 10 people were detained and arrested at Sterling Immigration Court last week, Briskman alleged that ICE agents confronted two more people who were watching. One person was "manhandled" outside of the building by plain clothes officers, according to a press release. The officers also pushed away the other person's phone, she wrote.
Briskman condemned the ICE operations as "lawless" and "authoritarian," calling on Sheriff Mike Chapman to immediately terminate the county’s 287(g) agreement with ICE — a federal program that allows local law enforcement to assist with immigration enforcement.
“These actions violate the U.S. Constitution, the values of Loudoun County and the norms of our democracy,” Briskman said in the Monday press release.
The 10 people arrested last Wednesday are among 25 people advocates say have been taken through the backdoor of the Sterling Immigration Court by ICE since May 22, according to the press release. These people all attended their court hearings on various immigration matters in good faith, it said.
In other cases throughout Loudoun County, Briskman said people have been harassed at their homes and detained by sheriff’s deputies after calling for help with a car crash and held for ICE. One man was reportedly detained outside his home, transferred to ICE custody and deported to Guatemala four days later.
"These unlawful, vigilante incidents are happening all over the country and in our community," Briskman said. "The 'officers' carrying out these deeds are often unidentified and wearing masks to hide their faces."
Briskman accused the sheriff’s office of enabling these actions by cooperating with ICE under a 287(g) Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), which allows the Sheriff to notify ICE of detainees and hold them for up to 48 hours after release. She argued that local taxpayer resources should not support “mass deportation efforts” and criticized the LCSO for refusing to share public records detailing ICE pickups and detentions.
“To cooperate with this agency is complicity,” Briskman said.
The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office responded later the same day with a sharply worded statement rejecting Briskman’s claims as “false” and politically motivated.
“Supervisor Briskman's false reporting is a shameful attempt to divide our strong community and undermine law enforcement in one of the safest major counties in the nation,” the statement read.
According to LCSO, the MOA pertains only to the Jail Enforcement Model of the 287(g) program. Under this arrangement, ICE is notified when a person already in custody for an unrelated criminal offense matches a record in the immigration database. ICE may then issue a detainer, and under the MOA, the sheriff’s office may hold that person for up to two additional days to allow ICE to take custody.
“We do not make immigration arrests nor participate in any other form of ICE enforcement,” LCSO said. “To falsely claim that our deputies have been conducting immigration arrests with ICE in the field is unconscionable.”
LCSO said it only holds people they have already detained for unrelated criminal offenses, and that an immigration detainer just means that ICE can show up and pick someone up when the person is released from the county jail, but that doesn't mean they always do.
The sheriff's office also said that though it hasn't been releasing numbers as they happen, it has been publishing the aggregate numbers of ICE pickups. But Briskman criticized LSCO for only beginning to track and publish those numbers on July 1, 2024, so it's unclear if the number of pickups have changed.
