Prince William Times 08/26/2020

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SPORTS: Seton School and other area private schools are planning to play sports this fall. Page 10

August 26, 2020 | Vol. 19, No. 35 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

See PrinceWilliamTimes.com for coronavirus updates

ICE officers using ‘pullovers’ to make arrests By Daniel Berti

Times Staff Writer

“If you look at the building, as a parent or as a brand-new detainee, you look at it like a jail,” Dowdy said. The “jail-like” image of the detention center is exactly what county officials are hoping to change by replacing the aging brick facility with a modern detention center that has more color, fewer beds and added space for rehabilitative programs like counseling, education and workforce training. It’s still in the early stages of planning with cost estimates ranging from $39 million to $46 million – roughly the same cost as a new elementary school – but the final design has not been determined. County officials said the project could receive up to 50% reimbursement from the Virginia General Assembly.

Plainclothes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have pulled over at least two people in their vehicles and arrested them on immigration charges in Woodbridge and Manassas in recent weeks, a tactic local attorneys say they have never seen before. A Woodbridge man alleges that ICE officers created a false story to pull over and arrest his 25-year-old boyfriend on Thursday, Aug. 13, in Prince William County. ICE officials confirmed the arrest but denied their officers impersonated police or used a false story. In a separate incident, a 47-year-old Manassas father of two was pulled over on his way to work by ICE officers and arrested. Both men remain in ICE custody. The reports came as a surprise to Prince William County Chief Public Defender Tracey Lenox and Lisa Shea, a longtime local immigration attorney, both of whom say they have never heard of ICE officers SCREENSHOT using such tactics in An unidentified ICE the county. officer videotaped during “Whether they Valladares-Cruz’s arrest. are intending to do it or not,” ICE officers are “essentially impersonating local law enforcement,” Lenox said in an Aug. 22 interview. “Nobody else uses a blue light to pull people over but local law enforcement. That’s what you think of when you see lights behind you. You think, ‘Damn, I’m speeding or something, I’m getting pulled over by the local police,’” Lenox added. “If ICE starts to utilize the trappings of our local law enforcement, that is an enormous problem.” ICE declined to comment on whether the vehicle-stops and arrests are linked to the end of the 287(g) agreement between ICE and the Prince William Manassas Adult Detention Center. The agreement, which the jail board allowed to expire June 30, allowed jail officers to carry out some immigration enforcement duties, including holding inmates on ICE civil immigration warrants, resulting in the deportation of nearly 600 local immigrants since 2018.

See DETENTION, page 4

See PULLOVERS, page 2

COURTESY PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: A typical holding cell at the juvenile detention center for youth between the ages of 10 to 18; a hallway between cells; the exterior of the detention center; an activity area lined with cells where youth can watch TV or do homework.

County to replace ‘jail-like’ juvenile detention center By Daniel Berti

Times Staff Writer

Prince William County Juvenile Detention Center Superintendent John Dowdy wrenches open a heavy cell door. Inside is a thin mattress atop a concrete slab, a lidless metal toilet and a small rectangular window above the bed. The cinderblock walls are painted white. It’s a typical holding cell for youth between the ages of 10 and 18 who have been booked into the county’s 48-year-old juvenile detention center, where the average length of stay is 32 days. Dowdy bolts the door shut and heads down a narrow hallway, passing the dining hall, a gym and several classrooms where youth attend classes taught by Prince William County school teachers. From a nearby window, he points to the razor-wire fence surrounding the recreational yard where youth can spend one hour outside every day.

Support Community Journalism! Visit: piedmontjournalism.org INSIDE Business...............................................9 Classified............................................13 Obituaries...........................................12

Opinion.................................................7 Public Safety.........................................6 Puzzle Page..........................................8 Sports.................................................10

88 DULLES, VA


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