Fairfax Co. Officer Returning To Duty After Suspension

GROVETON, VA — Fairfax County Police suspended an officer who detained an immigrant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the Groveton area on Sept. 21. The officer will return to full duty on Friday, Oct. 4.

The officer had been handling a traffic incident around 2:46 p.m. at Harrison Lane and South Kings Highway. One of the drivers did not have a license, and the officer conducted a query of the driver's information. The officer was notified that the driver was wanted by ICE for an administrative warrant of not appearing at a deportation hearing.

Upon verifying the warrant, the officer contacted the listed ICE agent and issued a summons to the driver for not having a driver's license. The driver signed the summons, was detained and turned over to an ICE agent. ICE informed the police department the driver had been fitted with an ankle monitor before being released.

According to a statement from Fairfax County Police Chief Ed Roessler Jr., the officer is "relieved of all law enforcement duties" as an internal investigation is completed. Roessler said the officer violated the police department's arrest policy on undocumented immigrants, which states:

If the response reads “OUTSTANDING ADMINISTRATIVE WARRANT OF REMOVAL” and the individual is not in custody or being taken into custody for any other violation of law, officers shall not confirm the hit through the LESC [Law Enforcement Support Center] and shall not take the individual into custody based solely upon the IVF [Immigration Violators File] hit. The majority of such administrative warrants represent civil violations of immigration law.

Virginia code states that a law enforcement officer can arrest a person without a warrant if ICE confirms the person is illegally in the U.S., previously convicted of a felony and had been deported or left the U.S.

The Fairfax County officer involved was not publicly identified. An internal administrative investigation will continue.