Following a month of growing public opposition, Gordonsville Town Council will soon vote on whether to terminate the town’s 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Oct. 6, Councilmember Nick Paxton shared an email he had sent to Town Clerk Janet Jones, Mayor Ron Brooks and Chief of Police Chris Votaw formally requesting the item to be added to the agenda for Town Council’s next regular meeting Monday, Oct. 19 at 6:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, Jones confirmed to Charlottesville Tomorrow that the item has been added to the agenda. It will be the first formal action that Council has taken on the agreement since Votaw signed it on May 15.
Take action
Take a community survey on Gordonsville’s ICE agreement
The Town of Gordonsville is conducting a survey to gather resident feedback on the Gordonsville Department of Public Safety’s 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Feedback will be used to inform the Town Council’s discussion on termination of the agreement during its next regular meeting on Monday, Oct. 19, at 6:30 p.m. at Gordonsville Town Hall, located at 112 S. Main St. Gordonsville residents can complete the survey here.
Community members can also sign up to speak during public comment at the beginning of the meeting.
The request followed on the heels of a community meeting at which not a single attendee spoke in favor of the 287(g) agreement, which deputizes Gordonsville officers to conduct immigration enforcement activities on behalf of ICE. Under the “task force model” that Gordonsville signed onto, those activities can encompass anything from routine traffic stops to raids.
In exchange, the department received an initial $100,000 for “transportation” after completing its first apprehension, plus $7,500 for equipment per participating officer per quarter. The department is also eligible for an additional $7,500 per officer per quarter for information technology-related expenses, Votaw said during Monday’s meeting.
Concerns about a lack of transparency around the agreement have grown since August, when the local email newsletter Byrd Street broke the news that Gordonsville police had been cooperating with ICE for three months without notifying the public.
Charlottesville Tomorrow’s investigation found further failures in transparency: discussion of the agreement between Votaw and Town Council took place in closed session, and when a pause on active participation in the 287(g) program was lifted, even Town Council didn’t find out until weeks later.
At the Oct. 5 meeting, both Brooks and Votaw took responsibility for not being more transparent. Brooks said he should have notified the public sooner when the contract was initially signed in May.
“I feel like once the chief brought that to council, it was my job to bring that to the public, and I didn’t do that. And so, I will put that on my shoulders,” Brooks said.
During a prepared statement, Votaw also announced a major new restriction on the department’s participation in the 287(g) program: Gordonsville officers are no longer permitted to participate in immigration enforcement operations outside of the town of Gordonsville. However, Votaw did not elaborate on how this order was executed or how it would be enforced.
“Our participation in this program is intended to address issues affecting our community, not to make Gordonsville officers a regional immigration enforcement unit,” Votaw said.
In June, Gordonsville police took part in a raid in Page County, as reported by WMRA, and in an interview on Sept. 17, Votaw confirmed that Gordonsville officers had participated in immigration operations in other counties, but would not specify where. He also declined to answer whether Gordonsville had cooperated with Greene County Sheriff’s Office, which is currently under investigation by Attorney General Jay Jones for civil rights violations stemming from a large-scale operation in June.
The restriction does not affect the other primary activity that Gordonsville’s 287(g) agreement authorizes officers to do — that is, acting as immigration officers during everyday policing activities within the town of Gordonsville like traffic stops, street encounters, and responding to calls.
It also did little to assuage the concerns of community members.
Some asked if they could get the restriction in writing.
“How are we to believe you that you’re really not going to be going into other jurisdictions and enforcing anymore?” asked Gordonsville resident Tonya Short. “And that maybe six months from now you’re going to make a determination that you’re going to do it again, but not let anybody know. How do we know that?”
Votaw responded that he did not foresee resuming outside operations. He offered to bring any potential changes to Town Council during a public meeting, but the discussion was soon cut off by Brooks.
“Council will have that discussion, because that’s not currently how our staff procedures and policies are written,” Brooks said.
During the meeting, Votaw had argued that communication with ICE and access to federal immigration information would allow him to reduce the possibility of unnecessary harm to civilians or a “blue on blue” incident between local police and federal agents.
But Gerri Frantz, another longtime Gordonsville resident, was one of several speakers to doubt Votaw’s claims that by cooperating with ICE, he could prevent them from engaging in more aggressive operations like raids.
“It sounds to me like the biggest threat that you’re trying to protect us from is ICE,” Frantz said.
She added that immigrants, as a group, committed fewer crimes than the general American population.
Frantz’s statement is confirmed by a large body of research that shows immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born U.S. citizens. For example, a 2024 report from the U.S. Department of Justice found that “U.S.-born citizens were significantly more likely to engage in crime compared to immigrants, regardless of immigration status.”
Katie Stevens said that the agreement with ICE has made her afraid to call local police in the event of an emergency.
“As a town resident, this agreement has made it where if I had an issue that I previously may have called the police to help with, I would not now do it unless it were literally felt life and death for me because I would be concerned about the safety of my direct neighbors,” Stevens said.
In 2025 and 2026, dozens of deaths have been attributed to ICE according to news reports from journalists around the country. Additional incidents have raised concerns over safety protocol including yesterday, when an ICE officer shot and wounded 28-year old Oscar Belgal with a 5-year-old in the car in New York City, according to reporting from CBS.
While opposition to the 287(g) agreement was unanimous at Monday’s meeting, thoughts on Votaw’s position as police chief were more varied. Some residents said that they wanted to rebuild trust in the police department and that terminating the agreement would help them do so, while others called on Votaw to resign.
In his email to town officials, Paxton clarified that while he is seeking a vote on termination of the agreement, he is “staunchly against Chief having to resign in any capacity.”
“We can all learn, grow, and improve from this situation,” Paxton wrote.
Asked by a resident if he was considering ending the agreement, Votaw responded that he is “open to it and constantly taking information.” Votaw previously told Charlottesville Tomorrow during an interview on Sept. 17 that he would end the agreement if directed to do so.
At the moment, it’s unclear where the votes will fall on Oct. 19. Two Town Council members, Vice Mayor Emily Winkey and Cyd Black, have already stated their opposition to the agreement. During the meeting, Both Paxton and Councilmember Stevean Irving weighed pros and cons.
“I’m personally in favor of having the data access from the agreement,” Paxton said. I’m vehemently against raids.”
Mayor Brooks has stated repeatedly that he will vote according to the majority of resident feedback. Public comment has been unanimously in opposition to the 287(g) agreement at every meeting since Gordonsville’s cooperation with ICE became public knowledge in August; however, Brooks maintains that the majority he’s heard from support the agreement but have not said so in public forums.
“Over the last couple of meetings we have heard from about 20 citizens that are against this,” Brooks told residents on Oct. 5. “Outside of this, I’ve heard from about 50 or 60 that have reached out to me that are for it.”
Several people asked from the audience why those supporters hadn’t shown up.
After the meeting, Charlottesville Tomorrow asked Brooks approximately how many of those who have reached out have sent in a comment to the official town email. He estimated that about four residents have, including a couple who oppose the agreement. Brooks said that the remainder of the “50 or 60” residents in support of the agreement have reached out through social media or in person, and he has not kept records.
