The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia is urging the state police to ignore Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli’s ruling that police can ask people about their immigration status during routine stops.
The civil rights group argued that Cuccinelli’s opinion lacks a legal foundation and presents constitutional and public policy problems.
Cuccinelli issued the advisory opinion Monday at the request of state Delegate Robert G. Marshall. Rebecca K. Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia, followed up with a letter to Virginia’s police chiefs Thursday saying the opinion is legally flawed and should be disregarded.
But so far, Virginia police are ignoring the ACLU, said Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police.
“In terms of practice and policy, it varies across the state depending on the priorities of the locality,” Schrad said. In some localities, police generally don’t ask about immigration status because doing so could have “a chilling effect” on the immigrant community’s cooperation with law enforcement, she said. In others, officers inquire.
“Virginia code is silent and does not prohibit law enforcement from asking about immigration status,” Schrad said. “We have to give officers a certain amount of discretion in the field. We don’t expect any of this will change procedures.”
Schrad emphasized that the attorney general’s opinion was not requested by law enforcement and said she received no questions from the association’s members about the issue before or after the opinion’s release.
“It has been clearly understood by law enforcement what their authority is,” she said.