Activists gathered outside the Chesterfield County courthouse this week to protest against the arrests of immigrants by federal agents. (Photo by Markus Schmidt/Virginia Mercury)
Jessica Schneider, a member of Chesterfield County’s Board of Supervisors, was about to address a growing crowd of people protesting area immigration raids outside the Chesterfield County Courthouse Wednesday morning when her phone buzzed with news that visibly shook her.
Another immigrant, Salvador Calderon-Cuella — whose immigration status remains unclear at this time — had just been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and quietly whisked away through the courthouse’s back entrance.
Calderon-Cuellar had pleaded guilty in April to two misdemeanor traffic offenses — driving without a license and failing to yield when entering a highway. The fines totaled $130, according to Chesterfield General District Court records. On Wednesday, he arrived at the court to make the payment.
“As we are just here, someone was being taken out the back,” said Schneider, her voice cracking during an interview with The Mercury.
“He had no prior arrests. Can you tell me that that is a violent criminal person that should be detained? This is a person that is here, working in our communities, and why are we punishing him?” Schneider said.
Since Friday, at least 14 immigrants had been arrested by ICE agents in and around the courthouse, according to reporting by Virginia Scope and other local media outlets. The arrests occurred over the course of several days, many following minor court appearances like Calderon-Cuellar’s. Immigration advocates say some of those arrested had no criminal convictions at all.
The rash of immigrant arrests in Chesterfield comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has bolstered federal efforts to detain and deport undocumented immigrants, actions Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares have pledged to support.
Schneider sees the sweep as part of a broader, politically charged campaign by the president and his allies.
“Trump says he wants to get rid of violent criminals and gang members,” she said in the interview. “But that’s not what’s happening now. This is just all about the cruelty and the racism. To purify our country is what I believe they’re trying to do.”
She grew more emotional as she reflected on her husband’s family history in Germany.
“We’ve been through this. We know what happens when people start to say that we’re better than them, and that we have to get rid of those people. And if we turn a blind eye, look at what happened then,” she said, holding back tears. “We need to stand up for our immigrant friends, neighborhood members and community members.”
Community and economic toll
The arrests, which are also happening in many other parts of Virginia, come amid growing concern about the ripple effects of stepped-up ICE activity in the state.
A recent study by the Commonwealth Institute and the Immigration Research Initiative warned that mass detentions of undocumented immigrants not only fracture families but could damage Virginia’s economy.
According to the report, released on Tuesday, undocumented immigrants are central to several key industries. They make up 28% of child care workers, 25% of construction workers, and 25% of cooks. Deporting just 10% of this population would result in a $69 million annual loss in state and local tax revenue — not to mention labor shortages and rising consumer costs, the study found.
“Forcibly removing community members en masse rips the fabric of our communities, erodes trust in law enforcement, and is costly for all of us,” said Freddy Mejia, policy director at the Commonwealth Institute and a co-author of the report.
Shamier Settle, a senior analyst with the Immigration Research Initiative and co-author, warned that deportations don’t only harm undocumented families.
“Our economy is not a zero-sum game — when immigrants are deported the number of jobs for U.S.-born workers declines.”
A courthouse, not a ‘sanctuary’
The courthouse arrests have also rattled local officials, even those with no formal oversight of immigration enforcement.
Amanda Pohl, chief clerk of the Chesterfield County Circuit Court, told The Mercury she only learned of the ICE presence after the first arrests occurred. While her office does not control operations in the General District Court — where many of the detentions happened — she immediately began reviewing policy with her staff.
“They’ve been in plain clothes, and so I don’t actually have an accounting of how long they were here, who was here, and how many were here,” she said of the federal agents. “Since I’ve been here, we do not call ICE on anyone, we do not ask for immigration status, and we will continue to implement that practice.”
While Pohl emphasized that her staff does not coordinate with ICE and wants the courthouse to be welcoming for all, she acknowledged the limitations of her authority.
“We are not able to stop [ICE] if they come to the building,” she said. “But we are going to do our best to make sure that ICE is not in our office and not lurking about.”
Pohl disputed social media rumors that Chesterfield had declared itself a “sanctuary” county — suggesting such misinformation may have drawn ICE’s attention.
“Chesterfield is not a sanctuary county at all,” Pohl said. “But I firmly believe that this is hallowed ground, this is a sacred area. We have to respect the rule of law and due process, and that’s not what’s happening here.”
Residents rally in response
About three dozen county residents and news media gathered outside the courthouse Wednesday in a protest organized by local civil rights groups and community leaders. Speakers condemned the ICE arrests as inhumane, excessive and a betrayal of democratic ideals. A lone passer-by who yelled out “God bless Donald Trump” was quickly shouted down.
Nicole Martin, president of the Chesterfield County NAACP, addressed the crowd first.
“Let us be clear, courthouses are sacred places in a democracy,” she said. “When ICE conducts raids in courthouses, we do more than just dispute legal proceedings. We undermine the very foundation of due process.”
Martin warned that courthouse raids don’t only impact immigrants.
“Imagine being a victim of domestic violence, showing up to court to seek a protective order, and instead being detained by ICE. Or think of a key witness in a criminal case who now refuses to testify out of fear of deportation,” she said. “These are not hypothetical situations. They are happening and happening right now.”
Among the speakers was Christian Martinez Lemus, a policy analyst with CASA, a national immigrant advocacy group.
“What we are seeing in the courts, which are supposed to be the places of law and order, is the full erosion of due process and constitutional rights,” Lemus said. “Make no mistake, this is not an issue of illegality. This is an issue of poor people being sent away for political purposes.”
Lemus framed the arrests as part of a broader anti-immigrant agenda driven by Trump-era ideology.
“President Trump’s vision is to wipe out the diversity melting pot this country is known for,” he said. “If ICE agents can wear masks, abduct people in courts, and send them to undisclosed prisons, do you think you are safe? No. We will fight darkness and fear through hope.”
Chesterfield resident Curtis Smith said he attended the protest out of concern for civil liberties.
“What ICE is doing is despicable,” he said. “I shouldn’t be in terror of walking out the courthouse and then wondering if I am going to get dragged off to a detention center because ICE agents saw that I have a Spanish name or something.”
He called the courthouse sweeps a “horrible ambush tactic,” adding that “people should have a chance to go to court without fear of something else that might happen to them when they go to court.”
Political reactions split
Earlier this week, Youngkin defended the arrests, linking them to a broader law enforcement strategy. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the governor said Virginia’s Homeland Security Task Force had carried out over 2,000 arrests in collaboration with ICE, the FBI, DEA, and state police.
“The fact that there have been some arrests at the Chesterfield County Courthouse makes sense, because they clearly have been arrested, they clearly are here illegally,” Youngkin said. “It’s working. And most importantly, we’re getting really tough bad guys off the street.”
Miyares, whose office played no role in the arrests, nonetheless offered support for the federal operation.
“These individuals fall into one of two categories: they’re either here illegally and have committed violent felonies, or they’ve already been ordered to be deported by a federal judge,” Miyares said in an email.
But civil rights leaders and Democratic lawmakers expressed alarm.
Del. Michael Jones, D-Richmond, released a blistering statement denouncing the courthouse operations as a “rupture in the social covenant” and a violation of constitutional values.
“The courthouse stands as hallowed ground within our constitutional republic — a sanctuary where justice is sought,” Jones said. “When ICE agents transform this space into a site of apprehension, they desecrate the very temple of justice their oath of office obligates them to uphold.”
Jones warned that such enforcement “engenders a climate of fear that permeates entire communities” and proposed several reforms, including designating courthouses as “sensitive locations” where ICE action would be restricted.
“These enforcement tactics do not occur in a historical vacuum,” he said. “They violate basic dignity. Justice without mercy isn’t justice at all — it’s just power masquerading as righteousness.”
A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the senator is monitoring developments and stressed the importance of transparency.
“ICE officers should be clearly identifiable to the public as law enforcement to mitigate risk — including risk to themselves if people misunderstand what’s happening,” the spokesperson said.
In the meantime, the full scope of ICE’s presence in Chesterfield and other parts of the state remains unclear. Neither ICE nor the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has responded to The Mercury’s requests for comment.
Statewide operations
However, the Chesterfield detentions are part of a broader pattern of stepped-up immigration enforcement across Virginia in recent months.
In Sterling, ICE arrested 10 individuals outside the Northern Virginia Immigration Court earlier this year, prompting similar concerns from advocates about courthouse-related detentions undermining due process.
In Albemarle County, ICE agents detained two men inside the Albemarle County Courthouse, sparking outrage from local attorneys and activists who said the operation put public safety and legal access at risk.
Additional raids have occurred outside traditional courthouse settings.
In Northern Virginia, ICE and the FBI jointly detained seven undocumented individuals in what the agency called a “targeted enforcement operation” focused on alleged public safety threats.
A separate joint operation in Richmond led to the arrest of an undocumented Egyptian national with a prior criminal history, though ICE did not release the individual’s name or further details.
Overall, federal data cited by Axios indicates Virginia has seen a significant increase in deportation and detention activity in 2025, with the state now among the top 10 nationally for total ICE removals.
Also in Virginia, the Youngkin administration in February launched the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force (VHSTF) through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and the commonwealth.
Drawing in more than 200 agents from federal (FBI, ICE, DOJ) and state departments (Virginia State Police, Department of Corrections), the VHSTF was created to blunt transnational organized crime, gang violence, and immigration violations.
Within two months, it recorded its first milestone — 521 arrests, including 132 individuals with alleged gang affiliations such as MS‑13 and Tren de Aragua — underscoring Youngkin’s description of the initiative as a model “federal-state collaboration” in law enforcement.
Top officials praised the task force’s rapid progress. Youngkin lauded the joint effort as a blueprint for national enforcement efforts, stating that its success “should be replicated all across the country.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi hailed the operation as evidence of “unprecedented collaboration,” FBI Director Kash Patel called it “a tremendous success,” and ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons pointed to the expansion of the 287(g) program — authorized by Executive Order 47 on Feb. 27 and operational within 20 hours — as a key driver of the early results.
The VHSTF continues to pursue long-term investigations into narcotics trafficking, transnational organized crime, and gang-related activity across Virginia.
Meanwhile, immigration advocates say they are hearing of similar arrests in other parts of the state and are preparing for legal challenges.
Standing outside the courthouse in the aftermath of Wednesday’s protest, Pohl, Chesterfield’s Circuit Court clerk, said as the struggle continues, the nation’s constitutional credence must take precedence.
“We have to respect the rule of law in due process, and that’s not what’s happening here,” she said.
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Author: Markus Schmidt
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