Southern Regional Jail and Correctional Facility in Beaver, W.Va. (Chris Jackson | West Virginia Watch)
West Virginia will stop accepting fresh immigrant detainees after federal judges issued a series of orders that found the state was unlawfully holding immigrants in its prisons.
At the request of Governor Patrick Morrisey, the state has come together with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. It allows specially trained police and prison officers to perform certain immigration enforcement duties.
In the last few months Federal judges have ordered the immediate release of numerous immigrant prisoners – many with no criminal record – who were held without due process in West Virginia overcrowded prisons. The arrests stemmed from Operation County Roads, in which more than 600 undocumented immigrants were arrested were arrested during ICE operations across West Virginia in January.
“Due to a recent court order, the regional prison system has temporarily suspended accepting inmates,” Andy said Malinoski, spokesman for the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation. “We will continue to communicate with our federal partners as the courts address these matters. Please note that our facilities continue to accept anyone who has a pending state criminal case.”
The decision was first reported by WCHS.
Malinowski did not answer further questions about the court order.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin said issued “a final notice” to the federal government regarding the continued unlawful detention of immigrants in West Virginia, while ordering the release of another detained immigrant.
“Continued detention without individual custody decisions will result in legal consequences following this court’s repeated finding that such detention violates the Fifth Amendment,” Goodwin wrote, saying the consequences could impact state prison officials.
Following the judge’s order to release immigrants based on constitutional violations, Goodwin said federal officials had not presented any factual disputes or legal arguments beyond what the court had previously rejected.
“The government is wrong. Judges in this county have said that time and time again,” Goodwin said.
Morrisey did not respond to questions about this story at the time of publication, including whether state police would suspend ICE operations.
The Republican governor has touted the partnership with ICE, saying in a news release that the hundreds of immigration-related arrests in January “removed dangerous illegal immigrants from our communities and made our state safer for families and law-abiding citizens.”
West Virginia was Renting prison beds to ICE for $90 per day. Hundreds of immigrant detainees have been held in prisons across the state — some arrested in West Virginia and others who have flown through the country’s prison system due to out-of-state immigrant arrests.
Accordingly, DCR received payments of $728,460 from ICE for the 2025 calendar year Malinoski.
This is a developing story.
