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§ 19.2-81.6 Authority of law-enforcement officers to arrest illegal aliens

All law-enforcement officers enumerated in § 19.2-81 shall have the authority to enforce immigration laws of the United States, pursuant to the provisions of this section. Any law-enforcement officer enumerated in § 19.2-81 may, in the course of acting upon reasonable suspicion that an individual has committed or is committing a crime, arrest the individual without a warrant upon receiving confirmation from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement of the United States Department of Homeland Security that the individual (i) is an alien illegally present in the United States, and (ii) has previously been convicted of a felony in the United States and deported or left the United States after such conviction. Upon receiving such confirmation, the officer shall take the individual forthwith before a magistrate or other issuing authority and proceed pursuant to § 19.2-82.

History

This law was first created in 2004. The record of its establishment is cataloged in chapters 360 and 412 of that year’s edition of “Acts of Assembly,” the annual state publication listing all changes made to the Code of Virginia in that year.

2004, cc. 360, 412.

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