After two large-scale immigration raids conducted jointly by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office on May 14 and June 23, some Central Virginia residents plan to attend the next Greene County Board of Supervisors to express their views.

One group plans to express concerns about the Sheriff’s cooperation with ICE, while another plans to show their support for law enforcement outside the meeting, according to a social media post.

The supervisor’s meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 14, and will include a public comment period. While immigration is not on the agenda and the Board has no direct oversight of the county’s Sheriff’s Office, at the last meeting, residents expressed concerns about the Board’s approval of budget items related to the Sheriff’s contract with ICE.

Over the past year, Greene County has embraced one of the closest working relationships with ICE of any local law enforcement agency in Virginia. Since signing a formal contract with ICE in May 2025, called a 287(g) agreement, the Sheriff’s Office has repeatedly assisted federal immigration enforcement efforts through traffic stops that witnesses say appeared to target work trucks and people of color.

This Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting follows weeks of heightened community conversations about the county’s partnership with ICE. It also comes a month after the June 9 Board meeting; that meeting was filled with people who supported the public comments of three Greene County residents who expressed concerns about the Sheriff’s participation in the May ICE raid. An official recording of the meeting shows at least a dozen attendees standing in support during the public comment period, while a video from The Piedmont Journal Recorder shows residents holding signs. Residents raised concerns about racial profiling and a lack of transparency from the Sheriff’s Office and urged county leaders to reconsider approving federal funding tied to the Sheriff’s Office 287(g) partnership with ICE.

Logo reads "Short & Important"

Greene County Sheriff Steven Smith is an elected constitutional officer who operates independently from the Board of Supervisors. The Board cannot direct the Sheriff’s Office or decide whether it partners with ICE. But in Virginia, boards of supervisors are tasked with distributing funds to all county offices. Several people associated with the County who did not want to be named told Charlottesville Tomorrow it was unclear to them if legally, in the state of Virginia, the Board of Supervisors can decline to appropriate those funds.

During the June 9 Board of Supervisors meeting, Greene County resident Melanie Johnson criticized the board for enabling and expanding the sheriff’s ability to collaborate with ICE through its recent budgetary approval.

“Those decisions are tearing families apart, undermining public safety and terrorizing this community,” Johnson said during the public comment period. “Under Virginia law, the sheriff is an independently elected constitutional officer, but you control the money, you approve his budget, his vehicles and his equipment and you have repeatedly voted to accept federal ICE money. You have done some of it through the consent agenda, without public discussion, and that is not neutrality, it is participation.”

The July 14 meeting will be the first regular Board meeting since the ICE raid on June 23 when 49 people were arrested.

Tuesday’s meeting will provide an opportunity for Greene residents to directly address county leaders during the public comment period. The meeting will begin in closed session at 5:30 p.m. in the County Administration Building, located at 40 Celt Road in Stanardsville, Virginia. The open meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. in person and on a livestream, linked from the agenda. Public comment, or “Matters from the public,” are the last item on the agenda.

Take action

Here’s how to attend the Greene County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Interested in attending the July 14 Greene County Board of Supervisors meeting? You can do so in person at 40 Celt Road in Stanardsville, Virginia or via Zoom. The open meeting, which will include a public comment period, will begin at 6:30 p.m. Find the meeting agenda with a link to a live stream on Zoom on the county’s website.

Greene County residents can sign up to speak during the open comment period on the speaker sheet as you enter the county meeting room. Speakers are allowed a maximum of three minutes per person.

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Hi! I’m Allie, Charlottesville Tomorrow’s Public Institutions Reporter. I'm a corps member with Report for America and part of the Open Campus cohort of journalists who report on higher education.

As a reporter, I focus on our local democracy and run our annual, essential Voter Guide. If there’s something you think we should be investigating, please get in touch! And you can follow all the work we do by subscribing to our free newsletter!