ICE Surge Shocks West Virginia

West Virginia just proved that enforcing immigration law doesn’t require surrendering to “sanctuary” politics—just backbone, coordination, and respect for the rule of law.

Story Snapshot

ICE says “Operation Country Roads” arrested 650+ illegal aliens across West Virginia during a two-week surge from Jan. 5–19, 2026.
The operation relied on 14 federal, state, and local partners working under the 287(g) program, which trains and authorizes local agencies to assist with immigration enforcement.
Officials highlighted arrests involving prior removal orders and criminal convictions, framing the effort as a public-safety and national-security operation.
State leaders said West Virginia led the nation in arrests on multiple days, while protests were scheduled only after the results were announced.

Operation Country Roads: What Happened and Where It Took Place

ICE announced that “Operation Country Roads” ran statewide in West Virginia from January 5 through January 19, 2026, resulting in more than 650 arrests of people illegally present in the United States. Officials described the effort as aimed at public safety and national security risks. Teams operated in multiple cities, including Charleston, Martinsburg, Beckley, Moorefield, Morgantown, and Huntington, reflecting a broad geographic approach rather than a single-city sweep.

Federal authorities and local partners emphasized that the operation was not a one-agency action but a coordinated surge involving 14 participating law-enforcement entities. That list included West Virginia State Police as well as other state and local departments and offices. While the exact arrest breakdown by location or criminal history was not fully detailed in every report, officials consistently described the initiative as targeted and intelligence-driven rather than random enforcement.

Why 287(g) Matters: The Partnership Model Behind the Arrests

The operational backbone was the 287(g) program, a federal framework that allows ICE to delegate certain immigration enforcement tasks to trained state and local officers through a memorandum of agreement. West Virginia expanded its use of that model under Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who signed an agreement with ICE in August 2025 and later issued an executive order directing state law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration efforts.

West Virginia State Police leadership reported that, even before the January surge, troopers had assisted ICE in roughly 250 arrests since September 2025 without errors in apprehensions. For residents who watched years of border chaos and interior enforcement resistance under prior political leadership, that “no errors” claim—while still a self-reported metric—signals an emphasis on professionalism and verification that reduces the risk of wrongful detentions and public distrust.

Public Safety Examples Highlighted by Officials

Authorities and media reporting pointed to specific arrests to illustrate the public-safety rationale. One example included an Indian national, Sagar Singh, who was taken into custody during a traffic stop tied to a separate enforcement effort involving commercial drivers, with reporting noting a prior removal order. Another example described a Chinese national, Ling Yan, who had a child-endangerment conviction in Ohio before being arrested in West Virginia during the surge.

Officials also described immigration charges filed against eight individuals in Nitro during the operational window, reinforcing that the surge included follow-on criminal and administrative processing beyond immediate custody. The available research does not provide a full public roster of charges for all 650+ arrests, so the public is largely dependent on summaries from ICE, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and participating agencies when assessing how many detainees had criminal convictions versus immigration violations alone.

Politics, Protests, and the Constitutional Questions Critics Raise

U.S. Attorney Moore Capito publicly credited the operation’s results and said West Virginia led the nation in arrests on multiple days—an attention-grabbing claim that underscores how aggressively the state leaned into cooperation. Meanwhile, reports indicated no protests during the two-week operation itself, with demonstrations scheduled around January 31 and February 1 after the results became public, suggesting opposition mobilized once the enforcement outcomes were already locked in.

Now THIS IS WHAT I VOTED FOR!

OVER 650 ILLEGALS arrested WITH COOPERATION from Local and State PD!

OUTSTANDING!

Too bad the A$$HOLES IN MN didn't cooperate!

ICE arrests over 650 illegal aliens across West Virginia with state, local police backinghttps://t.co/98TAp84zBl

— D-Will (@109_DWill) February 2, 2026

One outlet raised concerns about potential constitutional limits and referenced court skepticism toward certain “raid” tactics, but the provided material does not supply case-specific details showing that Operation Country Roads violated the Constitution. With the information available, the strongest documented facts remain the program structure (287(g) agreements), the public announcements by federal and state officials, and the operation’s timeframe and totals. Further legal evaluation would depend on warrants, detention standards, and case-by-case records not included in the research.