Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears criticized a plan announced Wednesday by her 2025 gubernatorial opponent, Abigail Spanberger, to rescind an executive order that allows law enforcement and jailers to work with ICE in certain situations.
“Well, we know she won’t be able to do that because she’s not going to win,” Earle-Sears said in a Wednesday interview.
“The people of Virginia are going to vote for me because [Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s order is] common sense and is keeping them safe. They have been safe since we’ve been in office,” she added.
Earle-Sears highlighted that she and Youngkin have overseen a one-third drop in statewide crime and dismissed Spanberger’s comments — first made in a Virginia Mercury interview — as “dangerous ideas” that are “all theory; no practical usage.”
Youngkin’s executive order aims to “maximize collaboration” with DHS and “us[e] all available methods to facilitate the arrest and deportation of inadmissible and removable criminal illegal immigrants.”
Earle-Sears said Spanberger’s pledge disregards key developments in addressing criminal activity among illegal immigrants.
“The No. 3 MS-13 [was captured] right here in Manassas under her nose in her former neck of the woods,” Earle-Sears said of Salvadoran national Henrry Josue Villatoro-Santos, who is alleged to be a top-ranking member of the transnational gang.
Villatoro-Santos, 24, was arrested in March in Dale City — a middle-class suburb along I-95 between Fredericksburg and Washington — in an operation overseen by the FBI’s Manassas Field Office.
Spanberger previously represented the area in Congress, in a seat now held by Democrat Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, twin brother of former Trump impeachment figure Alexander Vindman.
Earlier Wednesday, Spanberger confirmed her plan, stating, “I would rescind [Youngkin’s] executive order, yes.” She argued that the Youngkin-Sears initiative diverts local law enforcement from their regular duties and inappropriately involves the state in federal responsibilities.
The Democrat also called the U.S. immigration system “absolutely broken” and said allowing police to assist in federal enforcement “tear[s] families apart [and is] a misuse of … resources.”
Earle-Sears countered that Virginia officials cannot focus on economic development and other priorities if residents do not feel safe. She said breaking ties with DHS would be counterproductive and “dangerous” to both citizens and the federal agents carrying out immigration operations.
The Republican nominee emphasized her own immigrant background, noting that she came to the U.S. legally from Jamaica, and contrasted her story with that of many illegal immigrants with criminal records.
“These criminal illegal immigrants, they come here for an opportunity to prey on us, and they prey on the very population that they’re a part of,” she said. “We don’t want that.”
Youngkin also weighed in, suggesting that November’s election presents a clear choice.
“In her very first act as governor, [Abigail Spanberger] promises to turn Virginia into a sanctuary state for dangerous illegal immigrants,” Youngkin said on X.
“[Earle-Sears] promises to keep dangerous criminals off our streets,” the term-limited governor added.
