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"It Blows My Mind That There's No Opposition": When ICE Allies Run Unchallenged - BOLTS
https://boltsmag.org/sheriff-elections-virginia-2025/Maida Dooley is careful not to speak Spanish too loudly in public these days. She moved to the U.S. from Venezuela as a child, gained U.S. citizenship three years ago, and now keeps her passport card on her at all times, fearful that her skin tone alone could lead police or immigration enforcement to question her. When she mentally rehearses such a confrontation, she imagines officers accusing her of fabricating the card.
Dooley volunteers with a local rapid-response network of activists in southeast Virginia that monitors ICE activity and distributes know-your-rights information to people who may be vulnerable to deportation. The network is on high alert, she said, showing Bolts some recent messages from its Signal group chat: An attorney was unsure about entering a courthouse with her client, nervous that ICE might be patrolling there. Another organizer in the group warned of a possible ICE sighting at a government office where people apply for citizenship.
For a long time after she got to the U.S., Dooley says, she assumed that the president alone controlled public policy. Now that she keenly understands the power local officials wield over the communities she works to protect, it troubles her that so many in Virginia seem eager to assist President Trump’s mass deportation project.
Many Virginia sheriffs have recently rushed into new partnerships with federal immigration authorities. In Dooley’s region of Hampton Roads, the sheriff of Chesapeake, the state’s second most populous city, just signed a new detention contract with ICE this week, and he is referring to himself in campaign mailers as “Detain ‘Em Dave” as he runs to retain his seat. This sheriff, Dave Rosado, is locked in a June 17 GOP primary against Wallace Chadwick, a local police lieutenant who vows to be even more aggressive on immigration enforcement.
Compounding Dooley’s frustration: This GOP primary will most likely determine the next sheriff. No Democrat filed to run by an April deadline, despite this being a competitive city of 250,000 people that narrowly voted for Kamala Harris last fall, and the window for the party to designate a candidate, or for an independent to join the race, is fast closing.
Dooley volunteers with a local rapid-response network of activists in southeast Virginia that monitors ICE activity and distributes know-your-rights information to people who may be vulnerable to deportation. The network is on high alert, she said, showing Bolts some recent messages from its Signal group chat: An attorney was unsure about entering a courthouse with her client, nervous that ICE might be patrolling there. Another organizer in the group warned of a possible ICE sighting at a government office where people apply for citizenship.
For a long time after she got to the U.S., Dooley says, she assumed that the president alone controlled public policy. Now that she keenly understands the power local officials wield over the communities she works to protect, it troubles her that so many in Virginia seem eager to assist President Trump’s mass deportation project.
Many Virginia sheriffs have recently rushed into new partnerships with federal immigration authorities. In Dooley’s region of Hampton Roads, the sheriff of Chesapeake, the state’s second most populous city, just signed a new detention contract with ICE this week, and he is referring to himself in campaign mailers as “Detain ‘Em Dave” as he runs to retain his seat. This sheriff, Dave Rosado, is locked in a June 17 GOP primary against Wallace Chadwick, a local police lieutenant who vows to be even more aggressive on immigration enforcement.
Compounding Dooley’s frustration: This GOP primary will most likely determine the next sheriff. No Democrat filed to run by an April deadline, despite this being a competitive city of 250,000 people that narrowly voted for Kamala Harris last fall, and the window for the party to designate a candidate, or for an independent to join the race, is fast closing.
NEW. Do you remember this story I shared on Chesapeake?
— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) 2025-06-18T17:23:27.015Z
I can now confirm that:
1. The GOP sheriff (“Detain ‘Em Daveâ€) lost in the GOP primary yesterday to someone who wants to be even *more* of a hardliner on immigration.
2. No Democrat or independent filed by yesterday's final final deadline.
Pretty shocking combination of factors, considering that, had any Democrat or independent filed to run, they'd have had a shot at a non-incumbent hardliner in a city that Harris (narrowly) carried.
— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) 2025-06-18T17:24:07.793Z