HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — Data obtained by the News 3 Investigative Team reveals a significant increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity at jails across Hampton Roads this year, with undocumented individuals getting picked up by ICE agents.
The investigation found ICE has significantly increased enforcement, issuing detainers for many undocumented persons who enter local jails.
"Under the Virginia code, all the jails in Virginia are directed to try to determine the immigration status of everyone that gets arrested and comes into their facility," said Hugo Valverde, a local immigration lawyer.
Watch: Salvadoran contractor convicted of raping child in Virginia Beach was in the US illegally
He said they are required to let ICE know if the person is undocumented.
Data from local jails shows a substantial spike in ICE pickups during 2025 compared to previous years:
- Western Tidewater Regional Jail reported 12 inmates picked up by ICE in 2025 compared to 0 in 2022, 3 in 2023 and 0 in 2024.
- Norfolk Jail reported 68 inmates picked up by ICE in 2025 compared to 9 in 2022, 8 in 2023 and 9 in 2024.
- Virginia Beach Jail reported 115 inmates picked up by ICE in 2025 compared to 13 in 2022, 16 in 2023 and 38 in 2024.
- Chesapeake Jail said "there is no responsive report or document with this information" when we asked for a breakdown of the number of inmates picked up each year, but at the time of the request said they had 11 inmates who had been issued an ICE detainer.
- Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail reported 43 inmates picked up by ICE in 2025 compared to 5 in 2022, 12 in 2023 and 10 in 2024.
- Hampton Jail said they had no ICE detainers currently and don’t currently track ICE pickups, so they were unable to provide those figures.
- Newport News Jail reported 22 inmates picked up by ICE in 2025 and said "no records exist for 2022 – 2024." The Newport News Sheriff's Office said they had three inmates with ICE detainers but refused to provide full first names of the suspects and declined to explain why.
"During this current administration, ICE is coming to pick up everybody that is in a local jail that has an ICE hold. They're going to go pick that person up, and pick them up quickly," Valverde said.
Among recent cases, Ricardo Mejia from El Salvador was convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl three times in a Virginia Beach home he was hired to renovate the bathroom in.
An ICE detainer was issued after his arrest, and he will be deported after serving his 30-year sentence.
Another case involved Francisco Bonilla Leiva, a Honduras citizen arrested for domestic assault and fleeing law enforcement. On November 5, he escaped while being transported by ICE agents from the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail to the Norfolk Federal Building where he was being sent for “immigration processing and removal from the United States."
Federal prosecutors say he unbuckled his seat belt, rolled down the window and jumped out of the window from a vehicle traveling 50 mph on Merrimac Trail in Williamsburg.
He was recaptured less than two hours later about a mile and a half away after a multi-agency search, according to court records.
The number of inmates changes daily in each jail. The WTKR investigation revealed about 75 inmates with ICE detainers when we made the request for the information in October.
After getting the names of the inmates, WTKR looked up the crimes they are accused of committing. We found there were eight across the region held for various sex crimes against children, two accused of rape, one accused of murder, and many others facing various charges.
"ICE is going to issue a detainer every time. In the past, for example, in the Biden Administration, they didn't issue a detainer in every case — maybe for the more serious criminal offenses they did," Valverde said.
He said they are seeing far more people who haven't been arrested being picked up by ICE while on their way to work or on the street.
"Now it doesn't matter if a person has committed a crime or not. If a person is here without status, they're at risk of getting picked up," Valverde said.
He said his immigration law firm has experienced a surge in calls from families of detained individuals.
"We are getting, as you can imagine, a lot of calls from family of individuals who have been detained by ICE. It's been challenging because they're calling us to see what we could do to help, and in a lot of cases, there's not a whole lot we can do to help," Valverde said.
He said seeing families torn apart is sad.
"Seeing so many of these cases that it's tough stuff to be an immigration attorney right now because emotionally it does wear on you," Valverde said.
We reached out to ICE for information, but we have not heard back yet.
