President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has been hard at work tackling illegal immigration and conducting the deportation of criminals promised during Trump’s campaign. But as the immigration crackdown goes on, some have taken to protesting — and in some ways, it’s managed to stay relatively under the radar.

Photos provided to The Washington Stand from area residents show local counties in northern Virginia are actively pushing against deportation efforts by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Fairfax County Public Library, located in Virginia’s most populated county, posted Spanish language flyers which translates to: “Know someone who is detained by ICE in DC, Maryland, or Virginia? These organizations are here to help.” The organizations listed are CASA, Sanctuary DMV, United We Dream, and CAIR Coalition. The flyer encourages readers to call one of the numbers for “more information and help!”

Libraries in neighboring Prince William County are displaying posters from the Young Center for Immigration Children’s Rights looking for people to help with a two-day volunteer “Child Advocate Training” in March. The flyer notes: “We are particularly interested in volunteers who are fluent in Spanish, Haitian Creole, French, Arabic, Somali, and Indigenous Languages of Central America.” Local residents have told TWS that the Young Center appears to be littered with “a lot of partisan, anti-ICE/Trump admin messaging.”

Following the passage of the Laken Riley Act in January, the Young Center issued a press release calling it, “… a tragic betrayal of our values.” The Laken Riley Act is a law designed to prevent “the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from releasing illegal immigrants charged with burglary, theft, or larceny (as Laken Riley’s killer had been), in addition to those charged with domestic violence, murder, and drug offenses.” Following Trump’s signing of the bill into law, the Young Center wrote that it “… calls for the unjust detention of undocumented people accused of theft-related crimes. … The law falsely correlates immigration status with criminality and scapegoats immigrants rather than improving public safety.”

The Young Center’s Mina Dixon Davis, said in a statement, “We are appalled and saddened to see the passage of the Laken Riley Act. … Our political leaders have the responsibility to protect children’s rights and well-being, instead of using tragedy to serve political ends.”

The Washington, D.C. suburban counties in northern Virginia have a history of promoting activism concerning leftist causes with taxpayer-funded entities. The Fairfax County Public Library, as well as several schools within the county, have long promoted LGBT-related agendas. In June of 2024, the library held the “Full-Glam by Charlemagne Chateau: Drag Queen Make Up Tutorial” for ages 16 and up. Three years prior in June of 2021, Fairfax County Public Library and the McLean Community Center cosponsored a Drag StoryBook Hour for an audience of “babies and toddlers,” “preschoolers,” and “school age children.” Information about these past events remains on Fairfax County Virginia’s official website.

Around that same time, the public library promoted their “Rainbow Families Storytime” on X, “designed for ages 2-7 with an adult.” The post detailed how “these inclusive, affirming stories and songs celebrate rainbow families, self-expression, and Pride Month.”

Meg Kilgannon, Family Research Council’s senior fellow for Education Studies, told TWS, “This kind of political activism from a public institution is nothing new to concerned citizens who don’t agree with Drag Queen Story Hours or having an LGBTQ+ shelf in the children’s section of the library.” And concerning the latest stances these county facilities appear to be taking on immigration, “this is more evidence that librarians on the whole are committed to advancing a progressive political agenda.”

“Sadly,” Kilgannon emphasized, this often “results in exploitation — of all kinds — that facilitates human trafficking, whether for sex or for labor.”