In the brochure, the Albemarle County Police Department stresses that local police play no part in enforcing federal immigration laws or participating in deportation efforts by federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to county Police Chief Ron Lantz.

“Realistically, the Albemarle County Police Department’s sole purpose is to enforce state and local laws, and make the county a safe place for our community,” Lantz said. “We take great pride in including the entire community in our community policing efforts to solve crimes and make it a better place to live.”

“We want people to feel comfortable, and our function is to keep doing what we do best — being in the community and enforcing state and local laws,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to continue to do.”

The brochure also features information about immigration requirements in the county’s social services, human resources and finance departments, as well as the school system. Copies of the brochure can be obtained at the police and social services departments at the County Office Building on Fifth Street Extended and the County Office Building on McIntire Road. An electronic version can be found at albemarle.org.

Late last month, in his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Donald Trump rocked back and forth on the prospect of providing legal status for millions of undocumented immigrants and reasserting his commitment to deportation, according to The New York Times. While the national focus remains on the president’s immigration enforcement intentions, local police will not have much of a role to play, regardless of federal decisions.

Local police agencies do not typically interact with ICE on immigration cases, Lantz said, but they do often work together on human trafficking investigations. As part of their department policy, Albemarle officers do not ask people about their immigration status, even in the event of an arrest.

The Charlottesville Police Department, along with their county counterparts and the University of Virginia Police Department, has similar policies, and officers do not ask about immigration status when interacting with the community, according to city police Lt. Steve Upman.

“Our role is the same as any other local law enforcement agency in that we are tasked with enforcing state and local law and do not have the authority to enforce federal laws,” Upman said. “Our main focus is keeping everyone safe, to include any immigrants, and continue to improve the quality of life in Charlottesville.”

“Any immigrant, regardless of their status, should not hesitate to interact with our officers if they need assistance.”

If a person is arrested and they happen to be in the country illegally, that information is discovered by the local jail, according to Martin Kumer, superintendent of the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. Virginia jails are required by state law to obtain an arrestee’s place of birth and whether they are a U.S. citizen and report the information to ICE. The person is then fingerprinted and their information is entered into the Local Inmate Data System to make sure they are not wanted by other jurisdictions or by ICE on criminal charges.

If someone is in the country illegally or is wanted by ICE, the local jail will notify ICE, but it is no guarantee ICE will take them into custody, Kumer said. Last year, the local jail took in 312 people who were not U.S. citizens, but ICE only took custody of about 40 of them.

“They’re not taking everybody, and some of those people may be here perfectly legally,” Kumer said.

Since the Trump administration took office in January, Kumer said, the jail has not seen any increase in the number of undocumented immigrants being arrested or deported. And there are no plans to do anything differently. Instead, the jail will continue to do what it always has been required to do — no more and no less, he said.

“We don’t go out of our way to identify these individuals or encourage their apprehension,” Kumer said. “We just do what we’re required to by law.”