🚨MEDIA RELEASE🚨

-For Immediate Release-

The Bedford County Sheriff’s Office has received questions from concerned residents regarding a report circulating on social media that Bedford County, as well as some of our surrounding counties, has been designated as a “Sanctuary County” and does not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The claim is based on a June 2024 ICE Detainer Acceptance Report published by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). It should be noted that CIS is a private organization, and any conclusion drawn is theirs and not a pronouncement or designation by any official federal agency or government entity. While we do not definitively know at this time where this organization obtained its data or how they manipulated it, it appears to have come from information generated from a Freedom of Information Act request to Immigration and Customs Enforcement which listed the Blue Ridge Regional Jail, which serves as institutional housing of both pre-and post-trial detainees for Bedford County and other local jurisdictions, as a “Limited Cooperation Institution”. We believe the information provided by this private organization, and its subsequent “designation” of Bedford County, to be erroneous and misleading.

The Code of Virginia specifically addresses the duties of the Sheriff and/or detention facility director to determine the residency status and citizenship status of those arrested for certain crimes, and report such arrests to federal authorities, pursuant to § 53.1-218 and § 19.2-83.2 . In 2020, despite the opposition of many Virginia Sheriffs, including Sheriff Miller, the then Democrat-controlled Virginia General Assembly limited the inquiry of arrestee’s citizenship status to felony crimes only. You can review the passage of the amendment of these Code sections here:

https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0995

Despite these legislative obstacles, Sheriff Miller has not only worked with our federal partners to address the challenge of illegal immigration, but has enlisted a whole-of-government approach, enlisting the aid of Bedford County Zoning Enforcement, the Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) and the Virginia Department of Labor and Industry to go after those who facilitate and employ individuals who have broken our immigration laws.

To be clear, Bedford County is not a “Sanctuary County”, no matter what the pronouncement of a study of dubious reliability. Bedford County welcomes anyone who follows the laws of the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia. But your Sheriff’ Office remains steadfastly committed to enforcing the rule of law and cooperating with our federal partners in the investigation and detention of any illegal immigrant.

~ Sheriff Mike Miller