Chesterfield Sheriff Karl Leonard said Tuesday that United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained 14 individuals over the past three business days at the county courthouse.

"All 14 were defendants appearing off the street for court appearances in our General District Court for a myriad of both misdemeanor and felony offenses," Leonard said. "None of the 14 were incarcerated at the time."

Leonard said that the individuals were identified by ICE "as being in this country illegally."

A Richmond official said there had been no such activity at the city's courthouse.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin lauded the action.

"We have a statewide collaboration and partnership between state police and ICE — and the FBI and DEA — working to make sure that violent criminals who are here illegally are arrested," Youngkin said.

"So the fact that there have been some arrests at the Chesterfield County Courthouse makes sense, because they clearly have been arrested, they clearly have been here illegally, and therefore that's part of our statewide effort."

Youngkin said the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force, which was founded on March 3, has now made more than 2,000 arrests within the state.

Leonard said ICE officials detained six people at the Chesterfield courthouse on Friday, six on Monday and two on Tuesday.

Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org.