Virginia Joins Arizona on Immigration Checks

AG: cops can check status during any stop
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 3, 2010 7:17 AM CDT
Virginia Joins Arizona on Immigration Checks
Republican Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli waves his clean sweep broom as his wife Teiro looks on at his victory party in Richmond, Va., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009.   (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Virginia’s Republican attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, has issued a legal opinion stating that police may check the immigration status of anyone they stop for any reason. “Virginia law enforcement officers have the authority to make the same inquiries as those contemplated by the new Arizona law,” Cuccinelli wrote, saying officers could “detain and briefly question” anyone they suspected of breaking immigration laws.

Until now, authorities were only allowed to check on the status of anyone arrested and jailed, the Washington Post explains. The state was working on an Arizona-like law to expand that, but with Democrats likely to block it, a Republican state rep asked Cuccinelli for his opinion. Now, he wants Gov. Bob McDonnell, also a Republican, to codify it as an executive order. Law enforcement was caught off guard. “We were not consulted,” said the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police. “We have a mixed bag of feelings.” (More illegal immigration stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X