Over the last few months, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has released his vetoes for various General Assembly bills. Among these, Youngkin vetoed 22 bills which proposed various criminal justice reforms. One notable veto was Senate Bill 69, which would have allowed Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival recipients to qualify for law enforcement positions. Under current law, non-citizens cannot become police officers. Youngkin scorned SB 69, arguing that its implementation would “protect illegal immigrants” and undermine public safety. This assumption is both problematic and misguided — Youngkin has failed to consider the numerous benefits of having DACA recipients in law enforcement including addressing staffing shortages and community outreach. In order to mitigate these issues, DACA recipients deserve the right to join law enforcement if they choose.
Interest in working in police departments has started to drop. Encouraging buy-in from DACA recipients in Virginia appears to be one of many necessary measures to improve law enforcement’s recruitment crisis. DACA recipients embody a clear solution to this problem because while they inhabit these communities, they are not allowed to serve them. This solution has already been enacted in other states. California and Colorado have passed bills that would allow noncitizens authorized to work in the U.S. — including DACA recipients — to work as law enforcement officers. By opening up eligibility requirements, Virginia Senate Bill 69 could have addressed a serious and ongoing employment shortage in law enforcement by opening law enforcement roles to an entirely new population.
Expanding the applicant pool to DACA recipients could also increase diversity in police agencies across the Commonwealth, improving cultural understanding amid the gulf of mistrust between communities and police. Through their role in law enforcement, officers are supposed to protect the communities they serve, creating a foundation of mutual trust. This trust is especially intensified when the police workforce reflects the communities they serve. A similar cultural context or shared language can make all the difference in police-community interactions. Therefore, someone’s citizenship or DACA recipient status does not prevent their ability to effectively protect their community. In fact, the exact sort of officers that Youngkin seems to prefer policy — solely American citizens — have struggled to impactfully and sensitively grow community relations in a way that DACA recipients may naturally do.
Diversifying the police force in our state with DACA recipients would work to bring in new perspectives, building relationships through representation and increased cultural familiarity. The severe lack of positive and sensitive interactions between police and communities of color are deeply entrenched in various policing issues. These issues include the disproportionately higher rate of incarceration among people of color and stigmas of innate criminality among Latino populations. An increasingly diverse police force is more important than ever in dismantling these systemic issues and stereotypes. On the community’s side, this change in diversity can improve people’s perception of police. On the agency’s side, this can increase cultural sensitivity and help officers develop a more positive view of minority communities. Permitting DACA recipients to be police officers would result in increased diversity in police departments, allowing agencies to better reflect the communities they serve.
Despite the obvious benefits for both the communities of Virginia and Virginia law enforcement, Youngkin vetoed this bill. Critics of this SB 69 point to the technicality that DACA recipients cannot legally carry firearms under current Virginia law, but states like Colorado have safely and effectively enacted provisions to allow firearm possession for DACA recipients working in law enforcement. Furthermore, many forget that noncitizens are actually allowed to serve in all branches of the U.S. military.
In fact, some branches are encouraging these people to join. The Army and Airforce, facing decreasing recruiting numbers, have worked to get legal residents to join the U.S. military for benefits and a quicker route to citizenship. In fact, more than 148,000 immigrants have served in the military and earned citizenship over the past 20 years. And over the last century, the number is 760,000. Knowing this, it is difficult to understand the logic that many in this country are ready to accept — a noncitizen serving in our military but leaving them unable to protect our communities as police officers.
Allowing DACA recipients to become police officers is not a threat to public safety. In fact, it marks a novel way to improve police discretion and cultural sensitivity in American communities. Unfortunately, these benefits have been sorely overlooked by Gov. Youngkin — who has focused on an enigmatic “public safety” that divorces itself from diversity in law enforcement. Despite the setback of SB 69 being vetoed, supporters should continue to advocate for its reintroduction in the next legislative session. Eliminating this innate distrust in DACA recipients is the first step towards a safer future for all.
Apal Upadhyaya is an opinion columnist who writes about politics for The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. Columns represent the views of the authors alone.
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