Abigail Spanberger’s First Act Is to End Virginia’s Cooperation With ICE
“And in Virginia, our hard working, law abiding immigrant neighbors will know that when we say that we will focus on the security and safety of all of our neighbors, we mean them too.”
As Legal Insurrection reported, Virginia Democrats have wasted no time in 2026 reminding voters who’s in charge of state government, with the state Senate and House voting last week to advance a constitutional amendment that, if approved by voters – presumably in April – would pave the way for them to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterms.
On Saturday, former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (D) was sworn in as the state’s next governor, and she made sure to mention in her inaugural address that the safety and security of “all” – including “immigrant neighbors” (read: illegals) would be a top priority for her administration.
“As we write this next chapter, we will focus on the security and safety of all our neighbors. We we will take action to prevent gun violence, to support Virginians struggling with addiction, and to address the mental health crisis impacting our kids and our neighbors. And in Virginia, our hard working, law abiding immigrant neighbors will know that when we say that we will focus on the security and safety of all of our neighbors, we mean them too.”
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger told the crowd:
“As we write this next chapter, we will focus on the security and safety of all our neighbors. We we will take action to prevent gun violence, to support Virginians struggling with addiction, and to address the mental health… pic.twitter.com/0fCGfWSepL
— Nick Minock (@NickMinock) January 17, 2026
The most passionate Spanberger got during her inaugural address was when she used a lot of liberal buzzwords to essentially say that she's going to fight the Trump admin to stop deportations. pic.twitter.com/wXZGT7MIhT
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 17, 2026
She wasted no time getting right down to business, immediately ending Virginia’s cooperation with ICE as her first act:
On her first day as Governor, Abigail Spanberger made a decisive move: she vetoed Executive Order 47, ending Virginia’s participation in the federal 287(g) program that allowed local law enforcement to act as ICE agents.
This swift action represents a major victory for immigrant advocacy groups like CASA in Action, whose years of organizing and pressure from immigrant communities helped shape this outcome.
The decision carries particular weight given that Latino voters were a decisive force in Spanberger’s election, with the largest shifts from the 2024 presidential election occurring in Virginia’s most heavily Hispanic communities—particularly Prince William County, home to thousands of Salvadoran and Central American families.
Watch:
SEE IT: Virginia’s NEW Democrat Governor Abigail Spanberger immediately repealed Glenn Youngkin's EO that mandated state and local cops cooperate with immigration enforcement.
Spanberger just let illegal alien murderers and rapists off the hook. pic.twitter.com/Z4rdjMKg8g
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 17, 2026
Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), who was ousted by Virginia voters in favor of a Democrat candidate who previously expressed a desire to kill a former GOP colleague and to see the man’s children die in his wife’s arms, was highly critical of Spanberger’s actions, noting they would result in more Virginia residents becoming victimized:
Within the few first hours of Democrats having complete control in Richmond, they have made it easier for illegal immigrants who commit crimes against Virginians to remain in the Commonwealth by repealing EO 47.
By directing our local law enforcement to stop working with federal law enforcement agencies, our streets have become less safe with a stroke of the pen.
This is a disaster for the public safety of the Commonwealth.
Mark my words, there will be Virginians who will be robbed, raped and murdered as a result of this anti public safety executive order. No one should be surprised.
Within the few first hours of Democrats having complete control in Richmond, they have made it easier for illegal immigrants who commit crimes against Virginians to remain in the Commonwealth by repealing EO 47.
By directing our local law enforcement to stop working with…
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) January 17, 2026
This will not deter the ICE/CBP mission, of course, but it will certainly make the operations there more interesting, not to mention likely set the stage for the same dangerous scenarios we’ve seen play out in blue states like Minnesota, where Democrats are encouraging residents to harass and document immigration enforcement agents:
Welp… expect to see ICE & CBP teams in your state, I guess. https://t.co/pGOWHvLavA
— Pete Kaliner (@PeteKaliner) January 18, 2026
Relatedly, Spanberger’s actions remind us all over again where Democrats in this country stand: with criminal illegals over American citizens:
Spanberger’s move to repeal Youngkin’s order hands a win to sanctuary activists-not the people of Virginia https://t.co/Jr49eHdxgX pic.twitter.com/htjEPcTnX7
— Sean Agnew (@seanagnew) January 17, 2026
Lastly, does this mean Virginia will have their federal funding cut next month?
Virginia will have their federal funding ended on February 1st. pic.twitter.com/1T6GwAovKo
— Uri Blago🇮🇱 (@UriBlago_v2) January 17, 2026
🚨 BREAKING: In a MASSIVE announcement, President Trump is not making ANY PAYMENTS to sanctuary states or cities beginning Feb. 1, 2026
WOW. This is huge!
"They do everything possible to protect criminals at the expense of citizens. It breeds fraud and crime. NO PAYMENTS." pic.twitter.com/n1VKgfrGNA
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 13, 2026
I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
– Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via X. –
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Comments
AWFUL
AWFL
Sorry, fat thumb incorrect rating, she is AWFL!
That’s what I had thought, but a negro, race journalist for NYT is saying it’s now awful with u for urban.
U for ugly
Insurrection. The left is continuing to work toward its goal of destroying the United States.
“…enemies, foreign and domestic…”
she makes an Oath of Office and immediately breaches it. There must be some equally immediate punishment for such blatant lying. Does such a deliberate action qualify as “perjury” ?.
“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as ____________________ according to the best of my ability, (so help me God).”
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacodefull/title49/chapter1/
In politics the oath does not matter, especially to Democrats.
She is not breaching it. On the contrary the constitution is what protects Virginia’s right to refuse cooperation with the federal government.
But you know and I know she is not merely refusing to cooperate. She wants to stop the federal gov’t from enforcing laws they don’t like. She’s not saying it, but it’s what she means.
She can want whatever she likes; she just can’t do it, and she isn’t doing it.
She’s a disaster. And constitutions do not allow you to ignore or impede federal law–exactly what she is doing.
She’s a disaster. And constitutions do not allow you to ignore or impede federal law–exactly what she is doing.
The Oath she took first requires a “pledge” to the Constitution of the United States; therein is the Supremacy Clause (Art. VI., Cl. 2) and Naturalization Clause (Art. I., Sect. 8., Cl. 3), there’s more for readers with an open mind who want a starting point for their independent research:
https://robertcliftonrobinson.com/2026/01/09/the-supremacy-clause-of-the-constitution-enforcement-of-immigration-law-and-the-right-of-federal-agents-to-defend-themselves/
spanberger is in breach of her Oath to the US Constitution, and through her “executive action” is organizing Virginia’s LE and government agencies to obstruct and interfere with Federal LEOs lawful actions regarding illegal immigration and foreign enemies who entered the US unlawfully with specific intent to undermine “domestic Tranquility”, “common defence”, “general Welfare, and [the] secure[d] … Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity”.
“We’re the Democrats. We have our own laws.”
You do whatever gets you the most points with your supporters.
Unless you’re a Republican.
Hopefully take their Federal funds away but expect a Comassar Judge to order them to pay up immediately.
Correctly so. Trump’s threat is unconstitutional and will be struck down. Only Congress may place conditions on funding for the states; it must do so explicitly; and it may not place conditions so onerous that the state has no choice but to comply.
Oh, really? Remember how the feds imposed the 55MPH speed limit?
Indeed I do. I doubt that you do, since you seem to think it goes against me. S Dakota v Dole is actually the source for what I just wrote. It says exactly what I just did.
She has every intention of facilitating illegal immigrants, like ither blue jurisdictions. I just wish I wasn’t living here watching my state go down the flusher. This is only the beginning. Pervs back in schools is next.
Gov Spanberger is definitely choosing to use grossly misleading phrasing. ‘Legal immigrants’ don’t have to worry about the possibility of their deportation b/c they are….legal. The illegal Aliens, at least under the Trump Admin, definitely do have to be concerned.
Spanberger is choosing to employ reckless and deceitful phrasing to conflate the two categories to confuse the public and gain support for the leftists by crafting emotional appeals based on a false premise to put the suicidal empathy of AWFL and Karen to work for them. These ‘modern’ women, many/most of whom have no nuclear family due to misplaced priorities or via a no fault divorce arising from ‘unhappiness’ have no outlet for their need to nurture so they adopt causes to fill the void.
They always conflate “legal and illegal” into mere “immigrants” to stir up angst in legal immigrants.
Job #1:: cut illegals from the census
Job #2: cut all illegal funding and ancillary funding the same way money was cut from abortions. Seize ALL assets.
Job #3: accelerate the deportations; have mass deportation hearing a la Moonie weddings.
Should we be shocked? This is what a state with their head in the wrong place voted for.
The South is trying to rise again.
Not even close.
Time to send ICE to Virginia. Up yours, Abigail.
Protecting the illegal aliens that she calls immigrant neighbors to vote illegally for Democrats. If they are illegal aliens they are not “law abiding”. Nothing new here.
I see she also wants to encourage giving minors puberty blockers, opposite sex hormones and surgery to remove their genitalia because they have sexual dysphoria.
Maybe Virginia will be the first state to trigger the Insurrection Act this time around. That would be fitting since they have done it before.
She’s the type to have rmoved the gonads of all the males in her family.
I hope she or a member of her family or better yet one of her cats is victimized by an illegal. Even though I doubt she will get it,
this is no surprise
its what the agenda says to do
If Trump wasn’t such a wuss, he’d have by now stopped all Federal aid to VA
He can’t do that.
Nope. He can only deny disaster relief to all identifiable opposition party members. And he will never be impeached, fined, or spend a day in prison.
I think he could delay releasing any funds to States until the end of the Fiscal year but he can’t cut all funding ‘cold turkey’ on his own. That said for specific programs with Federal funding and State management he probably can withhold (not cancel) distribution of those funds where there’s a reasonable basis of malfeasance by the State. The Executive does have the duty to ‘…he shall take care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ ….so where Congress has set eligibility requirements and a particular State who has joint responsibility for administration of the program is effectively engaged in willful malfeasance then there’s a good argument the President can withhold funds for that specific program until the malfeasance is abated. Not as a revenge for ‘Sanctuary’ policies but for widespread fraud in specific programs? Yeah he probably can withhold.
How can they be “immigrants” if they haven’t gone through the immigration process?
It’s like referring to rapists as “mates” because mating was involved.
Immigrants are people who have immigrated. It makes no difference whether they did so legally or illegally. To claim that an illegal immigrant has not in fact immigrated is exactly the same as to claim that an illegal driver is not in fact driving, or that an illegal drug seller is not actually selling drugs at all.
Don’t be a pedant, Milhouse.
If they didn’t enter legally and remain legally, they are invaders.
First of all, they aren’t. But that’s a separate topic. The fact remains that, invaders or not, they’re immigrants because they have immigrated here. They have moved their place of residence from another country to this one. That’s all “immigrant” means.
Legally it makes EVERY difference. The way mother came her compared to illegals is a world of difference. Saying there’s no difference is precisely the sort of horsesh*t argument Dimtards and RINOs use.
Just stick to “illegal aliens” in all speech, correspondence and legislation.
Let’s not leave out the tsunami of anti-2nd Amendment laws that being introduced right now!
Leave if you can.
Virginia is a national disgrace. Choosing homicidal, stupid and evil Dhimmi-crats over competent, sane and intelligent Republicans, in Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares.
To hell with this state.
Well, *I* will be cooperating with them.
And I will be prepared for any of the anti-ICA stupidity to affect me here.
And I will NOT entertain being detained or attacked.
As to Spanberger and the evil cohort now in charge?
Remember Dunmore! And sic semper tyrannis!
She looks like a trans clone of Heydrich
She’s a dead-eyed sociopath. So happy I moved out of Virginia.
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