A Virginia resident who goes by the alias Ahmed sat in the harshly-lit living quarters of the Immigration Centers of America facility in Farmville earlier this year. Charlottesville Tomorrow reported how he was surrounded by rows of metal beds as one of several asylum seekers from Charlottesville being held there while awaiting their court date. While Ahmed was ultimately released last month, he should have been at home with his family and lawyers preparing for the case months earlier. Instead, the initial bond granted to him by a local immigration court for his temporary release was denied by the Department of Homeland Security.
This was done as part of an increasingly common tactic by the DHS to leverage an obscure power, called an automatic stay provision, to keep immigrants detained in inhumane facilities, arguably unconstitutionally. In immigrant-rich communities like Charlottesville, this has created new legal challenges as regional organizations struggle to find the resources and staff to handle the surge of cases. To uphold the nation’s due process rights and stop harm from being inflicted on immigrants and their communities in Charlottesville and across Virginia, the DHS must respect the decisions made by local courts in immigration cases and abandon the widespread practice of automatic stay provisions.
An automatic stay provision is a specific rule that automatically stops an immigration judge's order for bond when the DHS appeals. This policy was created after Sept. 11, 2001 to expand the government's detention powers through immigration law for the sake of national security. Before the Trump administration, it was used sparingly, mainly for individuals the government deemed dangerous towards public safety if released. However, with the increased power of ICE and the DHS today, these provisions have begun to be used broadly with no descript connection to national security or safety.
However, the consequences of these violations are not just theoretical. Diverse cities, hosting communities targeted by ICE and the DHS, are jeopardized by the tangible impacts of stripping away key contributors to their local economy and culture. This is particularly true in Charlottesville, where estimates put the foreign-born population at around 8.6 percent, the second highest of any locality in Virginia. This city relies on immigrants to function. Unfortunately, statewide, thousands of immigrants are being detained for often frivolous reasons.
ICE arrests under the new administration have tripled in Virginia and between January and July 2025, only about 29 percent of those arrested had any prior convictions. This is because many immigrants are being arrested and later deported for minor offenses like traffic violations and marijuana possession. It is a loss to these immigrant-rich communities like Charlottesville to be detaining vital workers in the area whose labor, vibrant culture and social networks are enmeshed in the city. Not only do these provisions endanger diverse communities, but they also threaten a core American value — due process.
Due process is a fundamental, constitutional right that protects all people, not just U.S. citizens, against arbitrary government decisions, ensuring they have a chance to defend themselves in a fair trial. When the government detains these non‑citizens in Virginia under automatic stay provisions without offering a timely bond hearing, it violates the guarantee of due process by subjecting individuals to prolonged deprivation of liberty without legal justification. Additionally, since the DHS now controls key parts of immigration proceedings — such as issuing automatic stay provisions — it serves as both the prosecutor and the adjudicator in these cases. This dual role violates the principle of a fair and impartial trial. In this way, the government is effectively breaking a core constitutional principle to serve its agenda of encouraging blanket arrests of asylum seekers.
A U.S. District Court in Eastern Virginia recently backed the illegality of this action after it ordered the release of another asylum seeker, M.H., who had been illegally detained at the Farmville Detention Center despite an immigration judge issuing a bond for his release. They held that the new DHS policy of generally denying bond to immigrants is unlawful and unconstitutional. Rulings like this reinforce that asylum seekers’ due process rights are, indeed, violated when the Trump administration indefinitely detains them in detention centers using automatic stay provisions.
The effects of this recent trend also trickle down to local residents. When the DHS illegally imprisons these asylum seekers, it becomes the job of organizations like the Legal Aid Justice Center and American Civil Liberties Union to assist these non-citizens in these legal battles that should never even exist. Attorneys like the ones from Ahmed’s and M.H.'s cases –– both working for the LAJC –– have reported feeling completely overwhelmed by the surge in immigration enforcement. The effect is that local citizens also pay the price. Now, almost half of all requests for legal assistance are turned away due to limited resources in Virginia. With more immigrant constitutional rights being under fire from loopholes like automatic stay provisions, communities that take many asylum seekers like Charlottesville suffer.
It is imperative that the DHS end its use of this 9/11-era power and allows immigration courts to issue bonds to immigrants who need it — without fear of being overruled. This is a fight for the soul of America – our principle of due process and tenet of welcoming diverse groups – but if the current administration’s actions are not challenged, our entire nation will suffer.
Nat Taylor is a viewpoint writer who writes about politics for The Cavalier Daily. He 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 author alone.
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