Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, January 18, 2026 Real World News
The Left’s anti-ICE roster includes veterans and rookies in a nationwide offensive posing as organic but funded in part by outside interests.
In North Carolina, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden has refused to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since first installed in the position in 2018.
In Virginia, Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger, sworn in on Saturday, immediately repealed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s policy of cooperating with ICE.
McFadden “was molded to be the ACLU’s ‘national model for how a progressive sheriff might run his department’ in 2018 when that powerful organization funded his election as sheriff of Mecklenburg County, NC, which includes the crime-plagued city of Charlotte,” Joe Schaeffer noted in a Jan. 14 analysis for Liberty Nation News.
“The process of electing local sheriffs is being poisoned by a financially powerful outsider group eager to see that laws it does not like are not enforced. Is this really that different from Al Capone owning police captains back in the day?” Liberty Nation News wrote in 2018. Seven years later, the results speak for themselves.
Schaeffer added: “Immediately upon occupying his position in 2018, McFadden fulfilled a campaign promise to end all cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel on the deportation of illegal aliens residing in Mecklenburg County. He knew who he owed his position to.”
Republicans have lambasted McFadden for thwarting ICE efforts to clear Charlotte and its surrounding area of particularly dangerous illegal aliens.
“Border Patrol is in Charlotte because Sheriff McFadden refused to do his job,” North Carolina state House Speaker Destin Hall, a Republican, wrote in a November X post as the Department of Homeland Security announced Operation Charlotte’s Web. “His sanctuary policies blocked hundreds of ICE detainers and pushed criminal illegal aliens right back onto the streets. They’re stepping in to clean up his mess and restore safety to the city.”
Now, McFadden “is being urged to resign by Democrats and Republicans alike amid ugly allegations involving mob-like extortion tactics, using the power of his department to pursue personal vendettas, and strip clubs,” Schaeffer noted.
In Virginia, Spanberger on Saturday signed ten executive orders, including one that ended Virginia’s cooperation with federal law enforcement.
Her new executive order rescinded an order by her predecessor Youngkin that required state police to participate in the federal 287(g) program and enforce ICE detainer requests for illegal aliens in custody. Youngkin’s order further gave police the authority to assist ICE with apprehensions and created a “State Police Task Force of federally deputized troopers to assist in the identification and apprehension of criminal illegal immigrants who pose a risk to public safety throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
“Now, Virginia will just release illegal aliens who are convicted of crimes back onto the streets,” Jordan Conradson wrote for The Gateway Pundit on Saturday.
Before signing the anti-ICE order, Spanberger said: “State and local law enforcement should not be required to divert their limited resources to enforce federal civil immigration laws. It is a responsibility of federal law enforcement. Virginia state and local law enforcement officers must be able to focus on their rapport, responsibilities, investigating crime, and community policing.”
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