On the day she took office, Gov. Abigail Spanberger moved to unwind Virginia's formal cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, a step that immigrant advocates quickly celebrated and Republicans warned could weaken public safety as President Donald Trump presses a tougher deportation agenda nationwide.
Spanberger, a Democrat sworn in Saturday as Virginia's first woman governor, signed an action rescinding former Gov. Glenn Youngkin's Executive Order 47, which directed state law enforcement and corrections officers to assist federal immigration enforcement and sought a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A WWBT report described the move as ending Virginia's participation in the federal 287(g) program, which can allow trained state and local officers to carry out certain federal immigration enforcement functions under agreement with the federal government.
Youngkin, a Republican, announced EO-47 in February 2025 as a public safety initiative and said it would allow Virginia State Police and the Department of Corrections to partner with the Trump administration on immigration enforcement, including through a 287(g) task force model agreement.
Immigrant advocacy group CASA in Action praised Spanberger's decision.
"Today is a historic day for the Commonwealth," said Luis Aguilar, Virginia Director at CASA in Action. "This victory belongs to the immigrant communities who organized, spoke out, and refused to be silenced. By repealing EO-47, Governor Spanberger has reaffirmed that Virginia stands for freedom for all."
Aguilar said the action signals Virginia "does not need voluntary collaboration with ICE to keep communities safe."
"When families can live without fear of deportation, everyone is safer," he said. "The General Assembly must honor Virginia's legacy by advancing the strongest protections for immigrant communities and imposing the strictest limits on voluntary collaboration with ICE."
The WWBT report also tied the move to election-year politics, noting that Latino voters were a decisive force in Spanberger's win and pointing to Prince William County, a heavily Hispanic area with large Salvadoran and Central American communities.
Republicans have framed the rollback as a risk.
In a 2025 story on Spanberger's campaign pledge to rescind EO-47, WWBT reported that Republicans argued ending the directive would undermine public safety and turn Virginia into a "sanctuary" for immigrants in the country illegally.