Briskman Proposes Freezing Deputy Raises, Positions Until Sheriff Cancels ICE Agreement

Loudoun Supervisor Juli E. Briskman (D-Algonkian) on Thursday unsuccessfully proposed freezing pay raises for county deputies unless Sheriff Mike Chapman cancels an agreement between his office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The motion, made during a budget work session, would also withhold funding for 38 new full-time positions, a medical director for the Adult Detention Center and six new school resource officers that were included in County Administrator Tim Hemstreet’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.

Briskman and Chapman have found themselves on opposite sides of a community disagreement on the department’s cooperation with ICE detainers.

Last spring, Chapman signed a new agreement with ICE that expanded slightly an existing agreement between the two agencies. The MOA stipulates that before an inmate is released from the ADC, if ICE has a detainer issued for that person, the Sheriff’s Office will hold that person for 48 hours to give federal agents time to detain them. That was an increase from the practice of holding the inmate for 24 hours.

The other change prompted from the MOA is that the Sheriff’s Office agreed to have 10 to 20 deputies at the Adult Detention Center who are trained in ICE protocols.

“All this does, to be very honest, is give them a little bit more time to do their job,” Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Tom Julia told Loudoun Now during community protests last spring. “… This is not to be confused with ICE arrests around Virginia or anywhere in the country. We are not doing that. That is not something local law is doing.”

Chapman has repeatedly told both supervisors and community members that deputies are not assisting ICE on raids or taking immigration status into account when on patrol or enforcing the law.

Briskman has said the agreement should be terminated.

During the March 12 meeting, she said that was the goal of her motion. The funding would remain allocated in the budget and be paid out if Chapman terminated the MOA. If he did not do so by the end of fiscal year 2027, supervisors would determine in late 2027 how to spend the funding.

“We know that the LCSO transferred 253 people to ICE based on ICE administrative detainers in 2025,” Briskman said. “I have not received information for the first two months of this year, despite requesting such information on March 2. We know from the data collected from the Deportation Data Project, that none of those with detainers in Leesburg ADC were flagged as aggravated felons, and some have ICE detainers simply for being charged with a crime, meaning they may be subject to deportation before having their day in court and have not received due process.”

Briskman said current leadership of the Department of Homeland Security is unprofessional and that the agency cannot be trusted.

“We need to stop splitting hairs in defense of an agreement that allows ICE to take people from our jail. Just because they are not being taken from the street, or our sheriff's deputies are not helping on the street and that we don't see it, that does not mean it's OK. It's not OK,” she said. “… I cannot stand by while our taxpayer dollars, even a dime of this, supports this effort.”

Briskman’s motion garnered no support from her fellow supervisors.

Supervisor Matthew F. Letourneau (R-Dulles) said withholding funding from a department based on political disagreements was a national politics move and not something that local boards should emulate.

“There have been many things that people on this board have not agreed with in some of these offices over the years,” he said. “I had serious concerns about the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney in the past. I know that my colleagues had issues with the School Board. But never have we tried to impact the pay raises and the pay that the employees get. We always ultimately fund it, and then we have our disagreements and do what we can on them, but not by holding pay hostage and that's not a road this board should ever entertain.”

County Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) said Briskman’s motion punished the wrong people and noted that starting sheriff’s deputies earn an average of $60,000 a year.

“Not only are we punishing the line officers for something that they have absolutely no control over, we're also punishing the inmates who are in jail right now,” Randall said. “The inmates in the jail right now need the medical director to stay there. We have inmates who have heart conditions. We have inmates who have diabetes. We may have somebody who's pregnant. We may have somebody who needs trauma care because she was just raped, and you're going to tell them that you're not going to give a raise to their medical director who could walk if that happens, who could very well walk.”

Briskman’s proposal would use the Sheriff Office’s rank and file employees as “pawns” in political disagreements that could result in them leaving and being replaced with less qualified individuals, Randall said.

But Briskman said withholding funding is the only recourse the board has on the issue and that it was a matter of being on the “right side of the street” and “on the right side of history.”

“I see this as the sheriff refusing to give them their pay raises by keeping this agreement because he wants to support MAGA fear mongering and false ideology. I just cannot believe that we want our taxpayer dollars to be used to support completely heinous and political mass deportations,” she said.

Loudoun County Chair Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) speaks during a fiscal year 2027 budget work session March 12, 2026.

Randall said she resented the accusation that she was on the wrong side of history on the issue and that, while she also doesn’t trust the Department of Homeland Security, she does trust Loudoun’s deputies.

“You don't know me,” Randall said. “You think you know me sometimes. You don't know me that well. I am not on the wrong side of history. I'm on the right side of history. I fight but I fight fair, and I protect the people who need to be protected in the fight and trying to hurt, or doing something that hurts our rank and file employees, not hiring a medical staff, not putting in place a behavioral health unit that could save people's lives who are having mental health issues because of that issue, including the immigrants? No.”

Briskman’s motion failed 1-8, with her as its sole supporter.

Lt. Col. Christopher Sawyer told Loudoun Now that the Sheriff’s Office opposed the motion.

“At the same time, we are grateful for all the supervisors who supported the great work of our deputies and recognized how they put their lives on the line every day to keep Loudoun safe,” he stated.