Charleston, WV-ICE enforcement tactics in West Virginia are facing renewed scrutiny after a new analysis challenged how federal officials portrayed people detained during a recent multi‑county sweep.
The Deportation Data Project reported that Operation Country Roads — a 15‑day federal initiative — arrested immigrants under what the group described as unverified allegations of drug and child‑abuse crimes.
Kyle Vass, an investigative reporter with the ACLU of West Virginia, said many of the families affected are long‑time residents who work, pay taxes and contribute to their communities.
“These people are really paying into the programs that don’t benefit them and even paying the salary of ICE agents that arrested them,” Vass said. “They’re helping us by being here; they’re not here because they’re some sort of violent, terrible person.”
Vass said one woman was denied the chance to speak with her husband, an American citizen, before he was taken into custody. He also accused ICE of inflating arrest totals and detaining people without cause. The Department of Homeland Security pushed back, calling the Deportation Data Project’s findings “cherry‑picked” and questioning the accuracy of the report.
According to Vass, his review found ICE increased its reported arrest count from 593 to 650, and that roughly three‑quarters of those detained had no criminal record.
He also raised concerns about overcrowding in holding facilities, noting that some West Virginia cities financially benefit from housing detainees.
“If you add up all of the days that people spent, calculated everybody, it totaled to beyond 17,000 days,” Vass said. “At $90 a day per diem for ICE, we’re looking at the state making potentially $1.5 million off of this deal.”
Vass said judges in the Southern District of West Virginia have repeatedly found that ICE violated detainees’ rights by arresting people who should not have been jailed. DHS has previously dismissed similar allegations — including in New Jersey — as a “hoax.”
