The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) efforts across the United States have quickly escalated within the month of January, creating public concern for safety and well-being.
In Minneapolis, the death of Renee Good caused a national uproar, urging people to reevaluate how protestors and immigrants are treated. According to The Guardian, Good was shot three times while protesting ICE activity in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 7, 2026 . Short after, another citizen was killed by ICE forces. Alex Pretti was also shot in Minnesota on January 24, 2026 while filming ICE officers, according to PBS News. Both of these events, along with many other publicized experiences with ICE has created a national state of panic.
On our own college campus, suspicions have circulated of the presence of ICE. Students spread information that they were possibly seen at Macado’s and Mac and Bobs, both popular restaurants for students. Many students also engaged in protests against ICE and their raids in response to the recent shootings in Minnesota, as well as raids taking place in Roanoke and Salem.
Within the first half of the year in 2025, there were 4,264 ICE arrests in Virginia, ranking it in the top 10 states for ICE arrests per capita, according to the Virginia Mercury.
Newly sworn-in Governor Abigail Spanberger informed Virginia in an interview with The Mercury that she will create separation between state and federal immigration law, and remove some of former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s policies that she found harmful. Within the same day she was sworn in, Spanberger repealed Youngkin’s Executive Order 47, which allowed for state and local police and other first responders to receive financial incentives to work for and with ICE.
These partnerships, labeled 287(g) agreements, allow for jails to either report their inmates or be paid to hold more undocumented immigrants within their system. Spanberger’s repeal does not end current 287(g) agreements, but it does prevent the creation of new partnerships like them in Virginia.
Kara Hopkins
News Editor
