Loudoun sheriff says cooperating with ICE makes county safer

Loudoun County Sheriff Michael Chapman said his willingness to cooperate with federal immigration authorities is one of the factors that has made his Virginia jurisdiction safer.

He also cast shade on neighboring Fairfax County, which has been roiled in recent weeks with the news that an illegal immigrant repeatedly granted leniency by the local prosecutor now stands accused of killing a woman at a bus stop.

Fairfax County is a noted resistor to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, repeatedly refusing to turn over deportation targets from its jails. Sheriff Chapman, meanwhile, embraces cooperation, including signing a 287(g) agreement to actively assist ICE.

“I can tell you, it’s worked for us. It’s kept our crime rate down extraordinarily low,” he told the Senate Budget Committee.

But Democrats defended sanctuaries, citing some studies showing they, on the whole, have lower crime rates and better income levels.

“It seems like sanctuary cities are helping to make America great,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, California Democrat.

The hearing comes as Republicans ramp up their attack on sanctuaries, which have policies limiting or prohibiting cooperation with ICE.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who ran the hearing, offered a deal to Democrats: Agree to curtail sanctuaries and Republicans would work on reforms to how ICE operates.

He has written legislation that would allow cases to be brought against politicians from sanctuary jurisdictions.

“If a local official or government, anybody, refuses to cooperate with the federal government in turning over people subject to deportation under federal law, they can be prosecuted,” Mr. Graham said of his legislation.

Sanctuary policies vary. Extreme sanctuaries refuse all cooperation, including trying to deny access to their data. Less severe sanctuaries restrict cooperation, such as refusing to hold someone for pickup, but will often still notify Homeland Security before releasing someone on whom ICE has a deportation “detainer” request.

ICE issued 201,340 detainer requests in 2025, according to DHS.

It also saw 17,864 detainers declined, meaning someone was released despite the ICE request. It’s not a one-to-one comparison because someone serving a lengthy sentence could be released in a different year than the detainer was placed.

Jessica Vaughan, who tracks sanctuary cities for the Center for Immigration Studies, said Fairfax County’s sheriff released 744 ICE deportation targets in 2024 — more than two a day.

Fairfax has been under fire after the recent slaying of Stephanie Minter. The man accused in the incident is Abdul Jalloh, an illegal immigrant who had more than 100 run-ins with county police and more than 30 arrests.

The local prosecutor repeatedly offered leniency on the charges, despite police warnings to keep Mr. Jalloh behind bars.

He was released a day before Minter’s slaying.

Sheriff Chapman said his neighbor only notified ICE of an impending release “about seven times last year.” He said that didn’t strike him as public safety.

“It’s irresponsible of me to allow that to happen and let these people back into our community,” he said.

Democrats said there are instances where a local jurisdiction notifies ICE, but the agency doesn’t come to pick someone up.

Mr. Graham told Democrats he would be willing to work on that as part of his proposal to curtail sanctuaries.

Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, questioned the government’s ability to identify a sanctuary.

He pointed out that Homeland Security’s list, released last spring, included hundreds of names, including the town of Duffield, Virginia, with a population of 70 people and no police force.

DHS’s list was withdrawn, and the Justice Department last summer released its own version, which has become the Trump administration’s authoritative list.