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Fairfax County’s revised police policy on immigration enforcement is drawing sustained criticism from community members who say the changes weakened protections for immigrants and were adopted without adequate public involvement.

The Fairfax County Police Department issued General Order 604, “Immigration Status, Citizenship, and National Origin,” on Feb. 21, 2025, the same day it took effect. The department did not accompany the release with a media announcement. The order replaced a version dated May 6, 2020.

The revision surfaced as a major public issue through an April 1 meeting summary from the One Fairfax Community Roundtable. Although residents may deliver verbal statements during the public-comment portion of the Roundtable’s general meetings, recordings are not made publicly available afterward as they are for meetings of county boards, authorities and commissions.

Community groups question the revisions

In recent months, Roundtable members, advocacy organizations and residents have argued that the county revised General Order 604 without sufficient transparency. Their concerns center on whether the new language reduces protections for immigrant communities and damages trust in local government and police.

At the April 1 meeting, Clayton Medford, then chief of staff to Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay, said the county wanted its Trust Policy and related police rules to withstand aggressive legal challenges from the federal government and outside organizations. He said the revisions were not expected to change how Fairfax County conducts policing.

That assurance did not resolve the objections. Roundtable members noted that organizations involved in developing the original policy had not participated in the revision process. They also raised concerns about the potential emotional and economic effects on immigrant communities.

Medford told the group that those concerns had reached the county’s highest levels and that officials remained committed to reducing barriers that prevent immigrant communities from accessing county services.

ACLU People Power Fairfax intensified the criticism in a June 6 statement, arguing that the revised order could allow county police to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement with civil immigration enforcement, contrary to commitments made in Fairfax County’s 2021 Trust Policy.

The organization said the new order removed explicit restrictions on using county resources or data to support ICE civil enforcement, voluntarily providing addresses and other location information, allowing ICE access to police facilities to interview or detain immigrants, and communicating with ICE without prior written approval.

Resident John Cross also urged the county to reverse the revisions. He argued that replacing detailed restrictions on immigration-enforcement assistance and information sharing with a broader requirement to comply with the Trust Policy could leave officers uncertain about what the county intended.

“Clear communications and trustworthy policy are needed now,” Cross wrote in a public comment posted on the county’s One Fairfax Community Roundtable website. He said the county could not protect itself or its residents through evasive action.

Broader tensions over community involvement

Concerns about transparency resurfaced at the Roundtable’s July 1 meeting. During a presentation on progress toward recommendations from the Chairman’s Task Force on Equity and Opportunity, some members said they had not known about certain updates and called for stronger communication among county leaders and community representatives.

The Roundtable was established March 22, 2024, following a task force recommendation to create a community advisory body representing Black, Indigenous and other people of color, as well as lower-income residents. Its mission includes monitoring whether county agencies prioritize the needs of those communities.

The Roundtable became the primary channel for police engagement with community leaders after Police Chief Kevin Davis disbanded the Police Reform Matrix Working Group. That group continued advocating for policy changes after losing its formal county role, but its requests to jointly develop policy with the Police Department were repeatedly rejected.

The dispute extended to the department’s foot-pursuit policy. After the Roundtable’s Foot Pursuit Equity Action Team presented its final report and held a vote, Prince Howard, the Community Safety and Justice Equity Champion for Sully, and the Rev. Dr. Vernon Walton, the Inclusive Prosperity Equity Champion for Dranesville, led a discussion about the county’s approach.

They pointed to an abrupt end to the Roundtable’s foot-pursuit review process as evidence of eroding trust. Members questioned whether county agencies regarded the Roundtable and its equity team as genuine partners in policymaking and whether communication had been transparent and respectful.

The Roundtable voted to send a memo to McKay and County Executive Hill, with copies going to every member of the Board of Supervisors.

Before it was disbanded, the Police Reform Matrix Working Group warned that the Roundtable would not adequately replace its preferred model of jointly developing policy with the department. Its 13-page report, “Next Steps on Police Reform in Fairfax County,” dated May 12, 2024, urged the Board of Supervisors to act immediately on six recommendations carried over from its “Action Plan 2023.”

One recommendation called for restarting joint policy development on urgent issues. The group sought direct collaboration with police on foot pursuits, use of force and firearms, and specifically opposed referring the foot-pursuit policy to the One Fairfax Community Roundtable.

The Police Department ultimately issued General Order 614 on April 9, 2025, establishing its first formal foot-pursuit policy.

A month later, the department launched an open-data website designed to make police information available through charts, figures and documents. While that initiative expanded access to department data, the disputes surrounding the immigration and foot-pursuit orders have kept attention focused on how—and with whom—Fairfax County develops its policing policies.