The office of Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Colette McEachin denied a records request from her primary opponent’s campaign advisor that sought communications between the city prosecutor’s office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

Gray Montrose — who’s working with local attorney Tom Barbour as he tries to unseat McEachin in this month’s Democratic primary — filed the Freedom of Information Act request on April 30.

On May 13, McEachin’s office said it had nine emails and three letters responsive to the request, adding up to a total of 47 pages. 

But none of the records would be released, the prosecutor’s office wrote to Montrose, because they are considered “part of our criminal investigative files and are exempted from mandatory disclosure.”

In an emailed statement, McEachin said the communications with ICE “involved three defendants in cases involving the illegal possession of a firearm; a defendant charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol; a person charged with strangulation and malicious wounding; and a victim of a malicious wounding.”

“The General Assembly exempted those criminal investigative files from disclosure because of the sensitive and personal nature of the information that they contain,” McEachin said. “While the statute does allow for discretionary disclosure, it is our practice to decline to disclose those materials for that reason.”

In a statement of his own, Barbour suggested the existence of records McEachin won’t release indicates her office is working with ICE to some extent.

“Certainly, I will prioritize prosecuting violent crime,” Barbour said. “But the commonwealth’s attorney appears to be hiding her cooperation with ICE while asking us to trust her to stand up to Trump. Richmonders aren’t buying it.”

Last week, President Donald Trump’s administration included Richmond and its neighboring counties on a list of alleged “sanctuary” jurisdictions not complying with federal immigration enforcement. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security quickly removed the list from its website after backlash from localities, including some in Virginia, who said the list was shoddy and inaccurate. The list included a Martinsville County in Virginia, a county which does not exist.

Barbour is taking a second run at McEachin’s job after losing an earlier primary fight against her in 2021. The Democratic primary set for June 17 is essentially the main election for commonwealth’s attorney due to Richmond’s strongly Democratic tilt.

The FOIA request filed by Montrose sought communications, emails and letters exchanged between McEachin’s office and ICE between Jan. 1 and April 28. Montrose did not identify herself as a representative of the Barbour campaign when she filed the request, but that would not have had any legal bearing on the city office’s obligation to respond.

Because McEachin’s office would not release the documents, the precise nature of the records that fit that description is not clear.

The request also asked for “agreements, contracts or policies related to cooperation or data-sharing.” McEachin’s office said it had no records matching that description.

The response to Montrose’s request was sent not by McEachin herself but by Supervising Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Crystal F. Fitzgerald.

McEachin said her office works with local, state and federal law enforcement “to prevent both citizens and non-citizens from harming either citizens or non-citizens.”

“We do not work with any local, state or federal law enforcement agency to detain or arrest anyone based solely upon their immigration status,” McEachin said.

The topic of immigration enforcement — a heightened concern for immigrant communities nationwide due to Trump’s policies — also came up at a debate between McEachin and Barbour hosted by the Richmond City Democratic Committee last month.

Pointing to an ICE raid that took place inside a Charlottesville-area courthouse in April, Barbour said Richmond officials should be taking a harder stance against similar scenes occurring in city courthouses.

“If our courthouses are seen as places that cannot accept undocumented people without risk of deportation or other extreme federal immigration immigration enforcement, they are quickly going to become places that are closed to justice for anyone who's not a US citizen,” Barbour said. “And that's unacceptable.”

McEachin said the conversations Barbour was referring to have already happened.

“That is why, so far, there has not been any interruption in Richmond,” McEachin said.

McEachin has also emphasized her office’s proactive efforts to reach out to Richmond’s Hispanic community. 

In a recent interview with The Richmonder, she said she’s distributing hundreds of blue cards to immigrant communities that explain civil rights protections in both English and Spanish, including the right to refuse unwarranted searches and the right to legal counsel.

“This is me saying to Trump, the Constitution still works and it still lives,” McEachin said.

Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org