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Trump Official Comments On Virginia Governors Decision

Trump Official Comments On Virginia Governors Decision

Virginia’s newly sworn-in Governor Abigail Spanberger wasted no time showing her hand—and it wasn’t the moderate poker face voters were sold during her campaign. In fact, just hours into her tenure, she took a red pen to one of the most consequential public safety partnerships in the state: Virginia’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. What she replaced it with, according to White House Border Czar Tom Homan, is little more than a sanctuary-state blueprint, and he’s not mincing words about the implications.

Spanberger’s executive order dismantled the previous administration’s collaborative framework between Virginia’s law enforcement agencies and ICE—a structure that had been carefully expanded by her predecessor, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. That system allowed local officers to work directly with federal immigration officials, streamlining the identification and deportation of illegal aliens already in custody, including those charged or convicted of serious crimes.

All gone, with the stroke of a pen.


And Homan, a lifelong lawman himself, was quick to remind the public of Spanberger’s campaign persona. “I’m a resident of Virginia,” he said during a scathing interview on the Ruthless podcast. “I remember her campaign ads. ‘I’m a law enforcement officer. I rescued children from sex trafficking.’ So, first day in office, she stops being a law enforcement officer and became a politician.”

What Homan is pointing out isn’t just hypocrisy—it’s a jarring reversal. On the campaign trail, Spanberger painted herself as a pragmatic centrist, committed to public safety and law enforcement cooperation. But on day one, she pulled the plug on coordination with ICE, effectively creating soft borders within Virginia.

Critics say this will have real-world consequences. Homan referenced past successes under the Trump administration, including the identification and recovery of over 130,000 missing children who had vanished into the system amid border chaos. And with cities like Minneapolis already reeling from border-related crime waves, the concern is not hypothetical.

Spanberger’s executive order now makes it harder for ICE to track and detain known criminal aliens released from Virginia jails. And if history is any guide, some of those individuals won’t just disappear—they’ll reoffend. The term “sanctuary city” sounds compassionate in theory, but as Homan bluntly put it, “the ‘sanctuary’ is exclusively felt by criminals, not by the American people.”


Faced with a state government pulling back, the federal response is doubling down. “We’re going to flood sanctuary cities,” Homan said. “You created a problem when you released some public safety threats into the streets… Shame on them, but they’re not going to stop us from doing this mission.”

President Trump echoed that urgency in a separate interview, pointing to the dramatic improvement in safety in Washington, D.C., since aggressive enforcement policies were reinstated. “Now it’s totally safe,” he said. “People are walking with their kids to restaurants.” The subtext was unmistakable: when law enforcement is empowered, cities recover. When they’re restrained by political posturing, chaos returns.

So where does this leave Virginia? With a new governor who came into office promising law and order but delivered, on day one, legal cover for criminal aliens. Spanberger’s policy reversal may please the progressive base, but to Homan and many others, it reads like a betrayal—not just of law enforcement, but of public trust.

Written by Mark Stevens - January 23, 2026