Longstanding immigration policy in jeopardy as top leader aims to appoint new members to county jail board

Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, immigration is once again becoming a hot issue in Prince William County.

At its regular meeting on Tuesday, May 19, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors aims to fill three vacant positions on the county’s jail board — an 11-member body which provides direction for the operation of the jail and is, by law, headed by county Sheriff and jail board Chairman Glendell Hill.

Board of County Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler, a Democrat who is five months into her term as the county’s top elected official, has submitted the names of 10 people to fill three open seats. Among the most high profile of the candidates is another elected official, Virginia Delegate Elizabeth Guzman (D-31, Dale City, Fauquier).

Also on the list is Rev. Cozy Bailey is the head of the Prince William County Chapter of the NAACP and the husband of another elected leader, Prince William County Potomac District Supervisor Andrea Bailey.

Lisa Johnson-Firth, another one of Wheeler’s candidates for the jail board, is a Manassas City immigration attorney, who says a long-standing policy at Prince William County’s jail — the 287(g) program — has “many problems.”

Under the program, those who are arrested and charged with a crime and then taken to jail may have their legal immigration status checked by a jail employee that has received federal training from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

If the inmate is found to be in the U.S. illegally, the prisoner is transferred from the jail into ICE custody. The fate of the inmate is then up to the Federal Government and could lead to deportation from the U.S.

“The 287(g) program, as currently implemented, has had, and continues to have, many problems with it, that, in particular, impinge on the due process rights of foreign nationals. However, in terms of whether the program should be disbanded or not, I cannot comment without a thorough examination of the program and discussion of it with other professionals,” said Johnson-Firth.

Potomac Local News pressed her to elaborate on the problems with the program.

“I can’t elaborate now but am willing to if I get appointed. Just suffice to say there are many problems with it,” said Johnson-Firth.

Bailey did not respond to a request for comment for this story, and Guzman could not be reached.

Other candidates for the jail board include Austin Haynes, a commercial Real Estate broker and former director of the Prince Willaim County Soil and Water Conservation District, a state-level office.

Tracy Lennox is the president of the Prince William County Bar Association and ran an unsuccessful campaign last November to be the county’s top prosecutor, replacing Paul Ebert who held the Commonwealth Attorney position since 1968.

Richard Mattox is a congressional lobbyist at Mattox Woolfolk, LLC, who represents firms like Goldman Sachs, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, and the MEDCO-Express Scripts pharmaceutical company.

The 287(g) program was a fiercely debated campaign issue in November 2019, when Sheriff Glendell Hill, a Republican and longtime supporter of the 287(g) program when it was adopted under the George W. Bush administration in 2007 and renewed under President Barack Obama in 2012, beat his Democratic opponent, Fairfax County Sheriff Deputy Josh King.

During the campaign, King and his supporters said the 287(g) program effectively scares minorities and discourages them from working with police to provide information that could be used to solve crimes. King, who had a $50,000 cash infusion from George Soros, a self-described “prominent international supporter of democratic ideals and causes,” and a strong advocate for criminal justice reform, accused the sitting sheriff of 17 years of focusing more on punishment and less on inmate rehabilitation.

In an interview, today, Hill touted defended his continued support for the 287(g) program.

“My position on the program hasn’t changed. I consider it to be a public safety initiative. It is a tool in the box that law enforcement can use to investigate crimes in our community, so I support it,” said Hill.

‘These appointments are necessary’ 

If the appointments are made Tuesday, they would come as the Board of County Supervisors continues to operate under emergency session in response to the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Board’s resolution, the Board of County Supervisors should take up matters that only deal with “emergency, crisis, or disaster, and the failure to act on these agenda items could result in irrevocable harm, as well as matters that “are necessary and essential to assure the continuity of county government.”

With more than 3,700 cases of coronavirus and 70 deaths attributed to the disease, Prince William County is second in only to Fairfax County with the most coronavirus cases in Virginia. The Prince William Board of County Supervisors recently held all of its annual budget deliberations in emergency sessions as, by state law, the county must pass an annual budget before July 1, despite the ongoing pandemic.

During these emergency sessions, the number of people who may attend and speak on public matters has been greatly reduced in an effort to maintain social distancing. The county implemented a new video conference feature that requires residents to register days in advance to speak at the meeting, and then, have their live video message piped into the Board of County Supervisors Chambers.

It’s a far cry from what happened this past winter when more than 1,000 people packed the county Board Chambers to protest gun control efforts that were proposed by Virginia lawmakers in Richmond. They successfully urged the county to become a 2nd-amendment sanctuary where the rights of gun owners would be protected.

Today, a Prince William County spokeswoman states the proposed appointments to the jail board are absolutely necessary for the ongoing operation of the county government.

“One of the many important Board functions is to make appointments to various boards, committees, and commissions (BCC’s). Many facets of local governing are carried out through the work of the BCCs,” county spokeswoman Sherrie Johnson penned in an email to Potomac Local News. “These appointments are necessary and essential to assure the continuity of the County government and are statutorily required or necessary to continue operations of the Board and the discharge of its lawful purposes, duties, and responsibilities.”

Wheeler did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Some residents are unhappy about the move to make these appointments and will hold a rally on Tuesday outside the meeting location, The James J. McCoart Building, at 1 County Complex Court in Woodbridge at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, an hour before the meeting begins.

“RALLY TO DEFEND PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY!” a flier posted to Facebook states. “In support of Sheriff Hill’s efforts to protect our communities.”

It’s billed as a rally to save the 287(g) program, and it’s one Sheriff Hill won’t attend, despite the fact his photo appears at the top of the flier.

“[The rally] is news to me. I’ve never had anyone contact me about it. I’ve heard about it. I’ve heard my name was mentioned, but no one has talked to me about it,” said Hill.

Hill will attend the 2 p.m. meeting and would appreciate the chance to address the Board of County Supervisors about the 287(g) program, he said. He’s also wrestling with the question of whether or not he would work collaboratively with the appointees, should they be placed on his jail board.

“I’ve been associated with the [Pricne William County] jail now for 38 years, before the jail even opened, first as a [Manassas City] police officer, as an assistant superintendent, as the superintendent, as a jail board member, and the jail board chairman, so I have a pretty good idea of how the jail operates,” said Hill. “To change the makeup of the [jail] board and make it a partisan board because of one issue that, I guess, people don’t like… Chairman Wheeler, she pretends to support the rule of law and public safety but my position is, if you support public safety it’s got to be 100%… you just can’t pick and choose what you like.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly noted Keisha Strand as a potential appointment to the jail board.

Uriah Kiser is the founder, president, and publisher of Potomac Local News. Susie Webb contributed to this report.