After residents speak out, Gordonsville votes to end ICE contract

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) currently lists 22 active 287(g) agreements with law enforcement agencies in Virginia, which deputize local police officers to act as immigration agents in exchange for federal funds.

Soon, that number will be 21.

On Monday, Oct. 19, Gordonsville Town Council voted 3-2 to terminate the Gordonsville Department of Public Safety’s 287(g) agreement, which was signed in mid-May but did not become public knowledge until the email newsletter Byrd Street received a news tip three months later (subscription required).

The Oct. 19 vote followed public comment during which, for the fourth consecutive meeting since the agreement became public knowledge, every speaker unanimously opposed Gordonsville’s cooperation with ICE. 

Gordonsville resident Nita Valade brought up transparency concerns and touched on how the agreement had impacted her personal life, saying that some of her family members were afraid to come to Gordonsville.

“They will not come to visit us any longer until this is ended, and it has broken my heart through,” Valade said. “And so, I would just urge all of you to take this under advisement. It was put over on our town without our knowledge, consent, even any way to say, ‘Hey, could we think about this a while?’ So please, please, please give this thoughtful, prayerful attention because I do not think it’s something that we want going forward.”

The lack of transparency around 287(g) agreements is a pattern across the country. An investigation by The Washington Sun found that police chiefs in towns from Stinesville, Indiana to Clarion, Pennsylvania had signed ICE contracts unilaterally without seeking public input or approval from local government bodies.

And much like in those places, ever since Gordonsville residents found out about their police department’s 287(g) agreement, opposition and concerns about transparency have grown steadily. 

Charlottesville Tomorrow’s investigation found several failures in transparency: Gordonsville Police Chief Votaw signed the agreement without seeking input from Town Council or the public, following a private meeting with ICE representatives and then-town manager Anthony Schienschang. When Votaw discussed the agreement with Town Council after signing, it was done in a 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.

Gerri Frantz, another Gordonsville resident, said that “we are getting a lot of material benefits from the agreement, but they’re at the cost of some really profound human rights.”

President Donald Trump has made deportations a cornerstone of his policy agenda and pledged to deport “dangerous criminals.” While arrests, raids and deportations have soared, only about one-fifth of those deported have criminal convictions, according to reporting from The Associated Press, Stateline and others. In 2025 and 2026, dozens of deaths have been attributed to ICE according to news reports from journalists around the country, which, along with poor conditions in detention facilities, has led to mounting criticism.

In September, VPM reported on emergency calls related to heat exposure coming from the Farmville Detention Center, a little less than 70 miles south of Gordonsville, where many people detained by ICE in the region are sent. VPM’s report listed a host of other potential human rights abuses in the Farmville center that were uncovered by other outlets, including overcrowding, contaminated food, and denial of medical care, and an investigation by the American Civil Liberties Union which found that the national mortality rate for people detained by ICE has more than doubled under the Trump administration.

Councilmember Nick Paxton, who had made the request to add the vote to Monday’s agenda following a community meeting on Oct. 5 during which residents strongly opposed the agreement, made the motion to terminate Gordonsville’s 287(g) agreement. He was seconded by Vice Mayor Emily Winkey. 

Ultimately, Paxton, Winkey and fellow Councilmember Cyd Black cast the deciding votes to end the agreement, with Mayor Ron Brooks and Councilmember Stevean Irving dissenting. Paxton explained that while he could see both sides of the argument, it was ultimately a desire to represent the will of residents that was the deciding factor.

“Excuse my language, but we damn near beg people to show up to these meetings, and when the people do show up, I think we got to listen to them regardless of personal feelings, politics, anything like that,” Paxton said.

Black and Winkey shared similar sentiments, thanking community members for the strong turnout at recent meetings.

“I wish it didn’t have to be over an issue that causes such separation in the town and possibly Council,” Black said. “I think our job and why you put us all up here is to listen to all of you and hear you, and more importantly, pay attention to what you say because you are the town and we represent you. And we’re going to do our best to.”

“I just want to say that we’ve had a wonderful attendance of our citizens, both in town and out of town regarding this agreement,” Winkey said. “We appreciate you coming out and voicing your concerns, and we will be voting on this agreement tonight.” 

Mayor Ron Brooks had said several times during interviews and public meetings that he, too, intended to vote based on resident feedback. 

After the community meeting on Oct. 5, the town launched a survey to gather residents’ opinions on ending the agreement. In an Oct. 8 Facebook post shared with a link to the survey, Brooks wrote, “My personal feelings aside, I will be voting based on how the majority of voting residents feel. My job is to represent you.”

At the Town Council meeting on Oct. 19, two handouts were available next to the agenda — the results of the survey, showing that two-thirds of town residents who responded supported terminating the 287(g) agreement, and a written statement from Mayor Brooks, explaining why he would be voting to continue it.

In his statement, Brooks mentioned verbal assurances he said he had received from an ICE representative, whose identity he did not disclose, during a private meeting on Oct. 16, the day before the community survey closed. The assurances echoed previous statements made by town officials, including that ICE would not conduct raids in town, a claim that Brooks and several other town officials have said in interviews was unenforceable due to federal authority. 

Brooks also called for six safeguards, including “no racial profiling” and “crime focused policing.” He said he would pursue termination of the agreement if any of the safeguards were violated, but did not elaborate on how they would be measured or enforced.

The statement also provided some statistics on immigration-related encounters in Gordonsville, which Brooks said had formed part of the basis for his vote not to terminate the agreement. 

According to Brooks, there have been a total of nine immigration-related encounters in Gordonsville since the agreement began. Of those, two people were released; the other seven were charged and “had histories involving repeated deportations and/or violent crimes.”

However, records obtained by Charlottesville Tomorrow via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request provide evidence that Gordonsville officers, including Votaw, participated in several task force missions in other localities this summer in cooperation with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. Charlottesville Tomorrow reached out to both Brooks and Votaw for statistics on immigration encounters outside of town limits, and to clarify how many of the charged individuals only had histories of repeat deportations versus violent crimes, but did not receive a response.

Brooks also didn’t respond to questions about his decision to vote in favor of the agreement despite resident feedback asking to end it, and both Brooks and Votaw have not answered several requests for comment regarding Gordonsville’s participation in Greene County operations. That includes a major traffic operation in Ruckersville on June 23 that sparked an investigation by the state Attorney General Jay Jones for suspected civil rights violations.

During the Oct. 19 meeting, Brooks reiterated previous comments he had made characterizing immigration operations by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office as racial profiling.

“One thing I was accurately quoted in saying about what happened in Greene County was profiling. I’m sorry, I’ll say that. It was 100% profiling. We don’t do that here,” Brooks said.

However, he did not acknowledge Gordonsville officers’ participation in those operations, even when a community member unmuted herself on the livestream to shout, “Votaw participated!”

Councilmember Stevean Irving, who cast the other dissenting vote, said that he wished the survey had been conducted in some other way.

“I understand the ones that did voted, I appreciate it, but you know, there were people that could not vote because they don’t have Gmail accounts or they’re not online or whatever have you,” Irving said.

Community members were also given the alternative to complete the survey in person, and 100% of the 14 residents who did so voted in favor of termination. Out of those who responded online, 43 town residents, or 66.15%, voted to end the agreement, versus 22 who voted to keep it in place. An additional 44 people from out of town completed the survey, but their responses were not included.

In order to end the agreement, Votaw must terminate it in writing. Gordonsville’s Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with ICE states that the contract “becomes effective upon signature of both parties and will remain in effect until either party terminates or suspends the MOA. Termination by the LEA (law enforcement agency) shall be provided, in writing, to the local Field Office.”

During an interview on Sept. 17, Votaw said that he would end the agreement if a majority of Town Council was opposed to continuing the contract with ICE.

Charlottesville Tomorrow reached out to Votaw to ask if he had notified ICE of the 287(g) termination and to request a copy of the written notice. Votaw responded via email with the following:

“All departmental 287(g) operations and the exercise of authority under that program were suspended effective immediately following Council’s decision. That operational suspension is distinct from the formal termination and administrative closeout of the agreement.”

Votaw did not respond to follow-up questions about whether a formal notification had been issued yet. ICE’s list of participating 287(g) agencies, which was last updated on Oct. 20, still includes the Gordonsville Department of Public Safety, and ICE spokesperson Jason Koontz referred Charlottesville Tomorrow to the Gordonsville police department for all questions.