'Sanctuary' policies pose dangers to national security: former DHS official

Localities with “sanctuary” policies in Virginia has grown, many butting up against vital military or national security instillations, posing potential threats, according to a former Homeland Security and immigration senior official.

Last month, immigration policy think tank the Center for Immigration Studies released an updated map of localities that have adopted sanctuary policies, which showed a surge in the commonwealth totaling 84.

Those localities include the counties of Arlington, Fairfax and Prince William, and multiple localities around the Hampton Roads region.

Virginia, home to the nation’s military infrastructure such as the Pentagon, Marine Corps headquarters at Quantico, and Norfolk Naval Base. In addition, the commonwealth houses the Central Intelligence Agency. All of which are surrounded by counties that have adopted some form of immigration sanctuary policies.

An attempted breach in May at Quantico Marine Base by Jordanians has highlighted concerns of migrants gaining access to military bases and national security areas of concern.

The Center for Immigration Studies says one of the men crossed the border illegally a month prior to the incident, while the other reportedly overstayed a student visa that had never been used. The men have since been released on bail and are due in court Sept. 17.

Ken Cuccinelli, a former attorney general of Virginia and deputy secretary of Homeland Security from November 2019 until January 2021, says the policies encourage more migrants to settle in areas with sanctuary policies, saying it allows for more criminal elements to hide.

“Anytime you implement sanctuary policies, you get exactly what you intend, and that is more illegal aliens residing in your jurisdiction than if you didn't have those policies,” Cuccinelli told The Center Square. "That is kind of the point, then it does achieve that outcome. And the bigger your illegal population, the easier it is for threatening illegals to hide.

“And threatening can mean criminal threat, or it can mean a security threat, and those policies just make it a lot easier for larger and larger groups of illegal aliens with long term negative intentions directed to America, to hide and to be ... near the Marine Corps base and other facilities that are in the area.”

He pointed to data centers, which are vital to national security as a potential concern as national security threats as they are nestled in localities with sanctuary policies.

“They're growing a data center business hub in Prince William … those are extremely vulnerable to being disrupted … it isn't that any particular illegal alien is going to start trying to undermine America any more than they already have, but what we're talking about is more direct threats, like the Jordanian effort at Quantico,” Cuccinelli said. "You just make it harder to find them. You make it easier for them to hide, and so you make the job of protecting security assets more difficult. That's just fact."

Cuccinelli emphasized the dangers of sanctuary policies in relation to national security.

“There's no question it undermines public safety in addition to national security. I mean, if you can get rid of repeat criminals by sending them home to their home country, you've made your community safer,” Cuccinelli added.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin has been critical of the Biden’s administration’s handling of the border and sanctuary policies, and how they pose a threat to national security and Virginians.

“This gets back to the fact that governors across the country deserve to know who is being brought into our states so that we can do our jobs,” Youngkin told The Center Square during a May interview. "And to me this is part of the failure of the Biden administration in making sure that governors are well equipped to fulfill our responsibilities and that's to know who is in our states, and therefore we can react in order to keep Virginians in this case, safe."

Youngkin added, “An attempted breach of this critical operation poses threats to national security and so too to citizens of the commonwealth of Virginia.”

In light of the increase of sanctuary localities in the commonwealth, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares issued an opinion Thursday “highlighting the ability of local and state law enforcement to cooperate” with federal authorities to enforce immigration laws.

"This opinion should finalize and clarify a matter that ought never to have been confused in the first place," said Miyares. "Virginia’s law enforcement professionals have both the authority and a moral duty to cooperate with every lawful federal immigration order to the maximum extent possible. Should an illegal immigrant be detained in a Virginia jail, there is nothing in law preventing our local and state law enforcement from cooperating with federal agencies."

Youngkin reiterated Miyares’ opinion, voicing concerns that the policies may pose dangers for the commonwealth.

“Virginia is not a sanctuary state,” Youngkin posted on social media Thursday evening. "It is unacceptable that local officials refuse to cooperate with ICE in holding illegal immigrants accountable. They are neglecting their duty to serve and protect Virginians and putting our entire Commonwealth at risk."