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About 30 people gathered outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Chantilly on Sunday, May 31, protesting the nationwide growth in immigration detentions and showing solidarity with people held inside.
Demonstrators carried American flags and handmade signs outside ICE’s Washington Field Office at 14797 Murdock Street. They read the names of people who had died in ICE custody and sang “No están solos,” Spanish for “they are not alone.”
The group also repeated chants including “none of us are free until all of us are free” and calls to abolish ICE. About half of the demonstrators later walked roughly half a mile to the busier intersection of Route 50 and Stonecroft Boulevard, while the others remained outside the facility.
Co-organizer Elizabeth Witt said she wanted detained people to know that others care about them and value them. Her sign displayed the Bible passage, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
The gathering was the third “Freedom Vigil” organized by members of Alexandria’s Christ Church Episcopal Democracy Circle and other local advocates. For Arlington resident Barbara George, however, it was her first.
George said she strongly opposed the rhetoric directed at immigrants and was ashamed of the country’s treatment of people seeking to support their families. She connected that view to her past service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras, where she said people with few resources treated her with generosity and kindness.
The Chantilly office has become a focal point in the debate over immigration enforcement. Advocates alleged in August that people were being held for days at the administrative facility in degrading conditions without adequate food, water or sleeping accommodations.
Elected officials who visited the office in September, after saying they had sought access for a month, reported apparent improvements. Immigrant-rights advocates remained skeptical, arguing that ICE facilities have concealed their true conditions from inspectors.
Virginia lawmakers have since had mixed success in limiting immigration-enforcement practices. In late May, Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed SB 352 and HB 1482, prohibiting law-enforcement officers from covering their faces while on duty.
Spanberger vetoed separate legislation that would have barred federal immigration agents from making certain civil arrests in sensitive public locations, including courthouses, schools and health care facilities.
An executive order also directed state agencies to deny the federal government access to state property for civil immigration enforcement or staging operations unless officers possess a valid warrant or order. The state must develop guidance for prosecutors, hospitals, schools and election workers dealing with federal immigration officers, as well as establish a website explaining residents’ rights and allowing reports of allegedly unlawful federal practices.
Federal immigration detentions have increased since President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025 after campaigning on mass deportations. Nearly 400,000 people were arrested nationwide through March as the government also narrowed legal avenues for entering and remaining in the country.
Voluntary departures have risen as well, driven partly by reports of inhumane detention conditions. The Department of Homeland Security has denied claims that detainees lack food, medical treatment and other necessities. More than 50 people have died in ICE custody since the start of 2025, including at least 10 who died by suicide.