Last week, the Prince William County School Board passed several historic legislation. The stage is set for potentially another history piece of legislation to be voted upon. 

Tomorrow, immigrant rights groups will be rallying to end the 287(g) agreement between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Prince William-Manassas Adult Detention Center. This rally is held right before the jail board meeting that will vote on the agreement.

Immigrant community members are put in the jail to deportation pipeline due to the agreement. The 287(g) program allows the federal government to deputize selected state and local officers as ICE officials to perform federal immigration enforcement functions at local taxpayer’s expense. Ending the agreement would be is a step towards defunding this program and redirecting over $350,000 back to the community for much-needed investment.

The battle on ending 287(g) has a long history within Prince William County. This is one of two agreements left in Virginia. The Culpeper County agreement is the other agreement left and was signed under the Trump Administration. There is a counter-rally held by an anti-immigrant group in favor of keeping the agreement around the same time and location.

WHEN: Wednesday, June 17th at 5 PM 

WHERE: Prince William County Adult Detention Center

9320 Lee Ave, Manassas, VA 20110

HOSTS:

• Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights
• CASA
• Tenants and Worker’s United
• Dreamer’s Moms in Actions
• Emgage
• Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations
• Legal Aid Justice Center
• ACLU People Power – Fairfax 
• LULAC Council 4609
• Multicultural Family and Education Center

DETAILS ABOUT THE JAIL BOARD MEETING: 

The meeting will be held virtually on Wednesday, June 17 at 7 PM. The public and press are invited to view the proceedings via Youtube or on the Jail Board website. There will be a presentation on the 287(g) program before the vote from the elected Sheriff who campaigned in support of the program. The public comment deadline for this meeting was on Monday, June 15th at 5 PM and was done by email. There will not be in-person comments as this is a virtual meeting.