By Diane Burkley Alejandro: We all were horrified as we watched the video showing a Minneapolis policeman extinguishing George Floyd’s life with his knee. Fairfax County is not Minneapolis. But on Friday June 5, we were reminded that police violence occurs here, too. Body-cam footage initially showed police and other first responders calmly talking to a man who appeared to…
By Diane Burkley Alejandro: After this year’s elections, Fairfax County may finally have a board of supervisors ready to stop voluntary cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has made our region a national leader in deportations. This would benefit not only immigrant families, but our community as a whole, as crime is statistically significantly lower in jurisdictions…
By Sharon Bulova: I read with shock and disappointment the Nov. 29 report by Ms. Diane Burkley Alejandro, Special Report: Local police may be helping ICE make Fairfax a national leader in immigrant detention. This report uses data to draw a number of false or misleading conclusions meant to stoke fear in a community already under immense pressure from the…
By Diane Burkley Alejandro: Fairfax County is poised to improve its policy governing law enforcement in schools significantly, but the current draft fails to protect immigrant students, and must be changed. The matter is urgent because the policy on deployment of armed police School Resource Officers (SROs) to all public middle and high schools in the county is being considered…
By Brad Swanson: Fairfax County could cut the arrests of undocumented immigrants from its jail by more than 90% by refusing to cooperate with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to a panel of immigration experts who spoke Wednesday night at a public forum. The experts noted that Fairfax County police and Sheriff’s Office are not legally required…