Virginia LULAC Condemns Governor Spanberger's Veto of Immigration Protection Bills HB 650 and SB 351

Virginia LULAC is deeply saddened, disappointed, and angered by Governor Abigail Spanberger's decision to veto House Bill 650 and Senate Bill 351, legislation passed by Virginia's elected representatives to protect immigrant families and preserve trust in our courts and public institutions. The bills would have restricted warrantless civil immigration arrests in Virginia courthouses and other protected spaces unless supported by proper judicial authorization.

These bills were designed to strengthen trust in our institutions and ensure that every Virginian could seek justice without fear. At their core, HB 650 — “Prohibiting certain acts in furtherance of federal immigration enforcement in certain protected areas” — and SB 351 were about protecting the integrity of Virginia’s courts, schools, hospitals, and public spaces by ensuring that immigrant families could access them without intimidation, fear, or the threat of separation hanging over their heads.

The legislation also sought to place a necessary check on a federal immigration enforcement agency that many communities believe has operated with increasing aggression, intimidation, and lack of accountability. Across the country, families have watched masked federal immigration agents conduct raids, detentions, and courthouse arrests that have spread fear throughout immigrant communities and eroded public trust in government institutions. Virginians deserve to know that their state government will stand up for their safety, dignity, and constitutional rights when federal overreach threatens the stability of our communities.

These protections were never about politics. They were about ensuring that victims of crime could report abuse, that witnesses could safely testify in court, that parents could take their children to school without fear, and that families could seek medical treatment in moments of emergency without worrying that doing so could destroy their lives. A government that cannot guarantee its residents safe access to justice, healthcare, and education without fear is failing in its responsibility to the people it serves.

This veto sends a painful message to immigrant communities across the Commonwealth: that when given the choice between standing with vulnerable families or yielding to fear and political pressure, this administration chose the latter. Virginia's legislature debated these bills, voted on these bills, and approved these bills. The people's elected Delegates and Senators listened to their communities and acted. Yet the will of the legislature was overridden by a single individual.

For many Virginians, this decision confirms a painful and difficult truth: despite our progress, Virginia remains a Southern state where deeply rooted conservative and oppressive values continue to shape policies that disproportionately harm immigrant communities. At a moment when families are looking to their government for protection, compassion, and leadership, they instead received a veto.

Families seeking justice in our courts should not fear being detained simply for asking for help. Victims of domestic violence, wage theft, discrimination, or abuse should never have to choose between protecting themselves and protecting their families from deportation. Witnesses should not fear walking into a courthouse to tell the truth. Parents should not fear that dropping their children off at school in the morning could become the moment their family is torn apart forever. Families should not have to question whether seeking medical care, entering an emergency room, or taking a sick loved one to the hospital could place them at risk of detention or separation from the people they love.

Children should not have to grow up afraid of their own classrooms, school buses, teachers, or school events because of immigration enforcement happening near places that are supposed to protect and nurture them. Parents should not have to hesitate before attending a parent-teacher conference, a school play, a graduation, or picking up their child after school out of fear that they could be targeted, detained, or separated from their family. Fear and trauma do not belong in our schools. A child cannot properly learn, grow, or feel safe when they are constantly worried that their parents may disappear before they return home.

No mother should have to choose between taking her sick child to the hospital and risking the possibility of her family being torn apart. No father should have to question whether seeking emergency medical care is worth the fear of immigration enforcement. Fear should never be a barrier to justice. Fear should never be a barrier to education. Fear should never be a barrier to healthcare.

A society cannot function when families are forced to live in constant fear of seeking help, reporting crimes, accessing public services, or protecting their children. Virginia’s immigrant communities deserve to live with dignity, safety, and the confidence that their government will protect their rights rather than deepen their fear.

Yet that is the reality many immigrant families continue to face today. The Governor had an opportunity to stand with those families, to send a message that Virginia's schools, hospitals, and courthouses belong to everyone. Instead, she chose a different path. Virginia's communities deserved courage. They deserved leadership. They deserved protection. They deserved better.

Virginia LULAC stands in solidarity with the ACLU of Virginia, immigrant rights organizations, civil rights advocates, and community leaders who have condemned this decision. We share their concern that replacing legislation with an executive order falls short of the protections the General Assembly sought to provide. The Governor has argued that the legislation would create legal conflicts for local officials, while supporters maintain that Virginia has both the authority and responsibility to protect access to its courts and public institutions.

Virginia LULAC is also deeply concerned that Executive Order 16, signed in place of HB 650 and SB 351, primarily requires public institutions to create guidance and handbooks for employees on how to respond to immigration enforcement activity, with little to NO real protection for vulnerable Virginians facing fear and intimidation. Guidance alone does not stop families from living in fear. Guidance alone does not prevent communities from being traumatized by aggressive immigration enforcement.

When immigrant communities lose trust that local institutions and law enforcement will protect them, the consequences are dangerous for everyone. Victims become afraid to report abuse. Witnesses become afraid to come forward. Families avoid hospitals, schools, and courts out of fear. Public safety depends on trust, and when that trust is broken, entire communities suffer. Supporters of the vetoed legislation argued that stronger protections were necessary to preserve public confidence in Virginia's institutions and ensure residents could safely seek help without fear of immigration consequences.

Governor Spanberger now faces a defining question:

How does Spanberger want to be remembered in Virginia history?

• As the Governor who stood with Virginia families when they needed protection most?

• Or as the Governor who chose politics over people and left immigrant communities feeling abandoned?

History remembers moments like these. It remembers who stood up when it mattered — and who turned their back on vulnerable families when leadership was needed most.

Virginia families deserved courage from their Governor. Instead, they received hesitation, fear, and political calculation.

The immigrant community is watching. Virginia is watching. And history is watching.

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About Virginia LULAC

Virginia LULAC is the state chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the nation’s oldest and largest Latino civil rights advocacy organization. Our mission is to advance the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, housing, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans in the Commonwealth of Virginia and beyond.

Contact:

virginialulacofficial@gmail.com | valulac.org