Spanberger rescinds Youngkin immigration enforcement order, issues orders on affordability

Newly minted Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed ten executive orders, which, she said, are an effort to “respond to the moment” and to make living in Virginia more affordable, in her first few hours in office on Saturday. 

“Affordability” was a key campaign platform for the governor during the election last fall. The executive orders focus on “strengthening” K-12 education and “protecting” Virginia’s economy, her office said. 

She also made good on a campaign promise to rescind former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order 47. Her predecessor’s order required local law enforcement agencies to sign an agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The order also directed state law enforcement and corrections officers to assist with federal immigration enforcement. 

“We are setting the tone for what Virginians can expect over the next four years: pragmatic leadership focused on lowering costs and delivering results,” Spanberger said in a statement. “My administration is getting to work on Day One to address the top-of-mind challenges facing families by lowering costs for Virginians in every community, building a stronger economy for every worker, and making sure that every student in the Commonwealth receives a high-quality education that sets them up for success. These executive orders represent the first steps in our work to create a stronger, safer, and — critically — more affordable future for our Commonwealth.”

House of Delegates Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, bristled at the governor’s rescission of Youngkin’s Executive Order 47. He said pulling Virginia State Police out of the agreement with ICE would make constituents “less safe.” He argued that Spanberger’s action would “shield” undocumented immigrants from cooperation with federal law enforcement. 

“Virginians expect their governor to stand with law enforcement and put public safety first. This action does the opposite, and I strongly oppose it,” Kilgore said in a statement. 

Spanberger’s and previous governor’s orders

The first three orders in the group of ten direct secretaries and all executive branch agencies to identify ways to reduce living expenses for families; establish an Interagency Health Financing Task Force to make health care spending more efficient and reduce health care costs; and require a review of regulation and permitting practices to encourage the development of more housing and lower housing costs, Spanberger’s office said in a statement. 

The remaining orders focus on K-12 education, efforts to help Virginia businesses and employees following cuts to federal funding and the workforce, and tariff policies. 

Spanberger’s predecessor, former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, issued 11 executive actions on his first day in office in 2022. Youngkin’s actions included an effort to ban critical race theory in classrooms, to place the decision to mask in schools in the hands of parents during the COVID-19 pandemic, to withdraw Virginia from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, to investigate Loudoun County for wrongdoing and an effort to combat and prevent human trafficking, among others. 

Youngkin’s predecessor, former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, issued just three executive orders on his first day in office in 2018. His orders focused on an effort to prohibit discrimination in state government, to give powers to the governor’s chief of staff in an emergency should the governor become incapacitated and to allow the chief of staff to declare a state of emergency.