The Prince William County Police Department has announced that an internal review found that the PWPD had cooperated fully with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in accordance with county policy.
Additionally, the review found no evidence that Prince William County is a sanctuary city in regards to harboring illegal immigrants.
Nov. 19, The ABC Washington D.C. affiliate WJLA, ran a story about the varying levels of cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement among local law enforcement agencies. In that story, WJLA identified Prince William County as a “sanctuary city.”
Should this article have proven true, it would have meant that the Prince William County Police were violating county policy in regards to their handling of illegal immigrants.
Police spokesperson, Sgt. Jonathan Perok, said that in response to the article "the PWCPD immediately began an internal review of the facts reported in the story and the policy referenced."
The article also caught the attention of County Board of Supervisor Chairman, Corey Stewart (R), who asked his board to look into the matter. As a result, on Nov. 21, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors issued a directive to the PWCPD to look into the information that had been provided to the reporter by a member of the police department.
The board directed the police department to “immediately take corrective actions to inform ICE of any person they encounter who is identified, for whom there is an ICE warrant, whether it is deportation, civil or criminal” in accordance with the Prince William County’s 2007 illegal immigration resolution.
The board of county supervisors further commissioned an outside audit was to be conducted by RSM, the County’s contract audit provider.
According to Prince William Police, in response to the board’s directive, the police department conducted an internal review by utilizing the following resources:
The result of the internal review provided no evidence that the police had violated the 2007 illegal immigration resolution, nor gave indication that Prince William could be described as “sanctuary city.”
Perok provided the following statements:
In conclusion, the findings of the internal review and preliminary report from RSM showed that the information initially given to the WJLA reporter by a police department member was not accurate. This information was not in accordance with the department’s current Illegal Immigration policy. The department has taken corrective action to address this oversight.Despite the miscommunication provided to the reporter, the police department worked extensively and has verified that proper notifications were made to ICE for 100 percent of the individuals who met the criteria established in the original BOCS resolutions in 2007 and 2008,” Perok said.
The police department has a well-established history of cooperating with ICE and remains committed to ensuring that all department members fully comply with the standing BOCS resolution.
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