Three interesting bills: immigration, National Guard deployment and labeling pork

A view of the Virginia House of Delegates Chamber in Richmond. (Photo by Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury)

More than 1,000 bills are filed for General Assembly consideration each year. In this weekly series, the Mercury takes a look at a few of lawmakers’ 2025 proposals that might not otherwise make headlines during the whirlwind legislative session.

House Bill 2560: The consequences criminal proceedings can have on immigration

This bill from Del. Alfonso Lopez, D-Arlington, would require courts to notify defendants at their initial hearing for any misdemeanor or felony that the outcome may have federal immigration and naturalization consequences.

Lopez told the House Criminal Subcommittee this week his legislation would help ensure fair due process for immigrants who aren’t fluent in English or educated on the U.S. legal system. Lopez said currently individuals might accept plea deals because they don’t understand the full consequences, unaware that, “they’re potentially condemning themselves to deportation or exile regardless of how many years they’ve spent in the United States.” 

Lopez emphasized his bill isn’t targeting violent criminals, but, for instance, someone who is charged for “failure to file a report with the Virginia Peanut Board” or underage drinking, both of which are violations punishable by a Class 1 misdemeanor and can carry a sentence of up to a year in prison. However, even if an individual takes a plea deal where their punishment has been reduced to a fine or community service, Lopez said they will still be subject to immigration proceedings because of a federal rule about the “potential” for a year in prison.

Several groups spoke in support of the bill, including Fatimah Muwahhid with the Humanization Project, who told the subcommittee that pleading guilty for little to no sentence is a move that, “is logical to accept for anyone needing to get back to work to support a family.”

Muwahhid continued, “imagine agreeing to that for all the right reasons, only to find out after you have taken a guilty plea that you may not ever see that family again.”

Lopez said the legislation is a “trimmed down” version of his bill which passed last year only to be vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who objected to a provision prohibiting inquiries into the defendant’s immigration status unless it was relevant to their case.

The bill unanimously passed the House Criminal Subcommittee and Courts of Justice Committee and will be heard on the House floor next week. 

House Bill 2193: Prohibiting National Guard deployment to active combat

This legislation from Del. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, would prohibit the Virginia Guard from being sent into active duty combat unless Congress has made an official declaration of war or has taken action authorized by the Constitution for expressly executing U.S. laws, repelling invasion or suppressing an insurrection. 

Freitas, an Army veteran, told the House Public Safety Committee Thursday that his bill is an attempt to correct a “mistake” of U.S. foreign policy that involves service members in wars overseas without a congressional declaration of war. 

“I think we have gotten to a point where it is time for somebody, somewhere to hold Congress responsible for completely abdicating its responsibility under the Constitution to declare war, and instead, allowing the executive branch to get us involved in wars,” Frietas said. “As long as [Congress] pass[es] a budget amendment, then Congress apparently has had a say in the process.”

Congress approved its last formal declaration of war during World War II. 

Between August 2021 and February 2023, more than 2,000 state National Guard personnel were on federal active duty in the U.S. and overseas — the most since 2007 — A. A. “Cotton” Puryear, chief of public affairs for the Virginia National Guard, told the Virginia Mercury.  

“Soldiers deployed overseas provided mission command for multi-national forces in Kuwait, mission command and base life support in Iraq and Kuwait, a security response force in the Horn of Africa, air defense site security in Iraq, engineer utilities support in Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait and conducted [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] peace support operations in Kosovo,” Puryear said. Additionally, he said the Virginia National Guard Airmen, “also supported a short-notice air superiority support in the United Arab Emirates.”

Freitas emphasized his bill is crafted to respect the authority of the federal government and Virginia’s governor to mobilize the state’s National Guard. 

The bill passed the House Public Safety Subcommittee unanimously, which chair Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, called, “the libertarians and liberals coming together.” The legislation now heads to the full House Committee on Public Safety. 

Senate Bill 1133: Requiring notice of pork products on menus

Restaurants and catering operations would need to identify pork products on menus for customers, under legislation from Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax. Her bill also calls for restaurants to  post a copy of the menu where it can be accessible to employees involved in the preparation or service of food. 

Boysko told the Senate Health Subcommittee this week her bill tackles a religious issue for Muslim, Jewish and some Christian communities whose faith prohibits them from eating pork. The town of Herndon requested Boysko carry the bill, with councilmember Naila Alam telling the panel in a statement, “In Northern Virginia — a hub of diversity and economic activity — labeling pork products is not just respectful, it’s necessary.”

According to the Public Religion Research Institute, in 2023, Jewish Americans made up 2% of the total U.S. population and Muslim Americans 1%. However, Fairfax County’s population is 3% Muslim and 2.7% Jewish, and Loudoun County is 2.5% Jewish and 1.6% Muslim.

Boysko said the legislation would also be beneficial to the increasing number of people who chose vegetarian, vegan or other flexitarian diets. 

Speaking in opposition to the bill, Tommy Herbert with the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association said it would not be “reasonably possible” for a restaurant owner to comply with the bill because there are pork products “upstream” in the food production process that they may not be aware of, like in products that come ready-made to the restaurant. 

Herbert said gelatin is an example, “which can be derived from pork, but you do not know whether it is derived from pork.”

Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, told the Senate Education and Health Committee on Thursday that Virginia already “got it right” with an existing law requiring labels for halal and kosher products, and Boysko’s bill could take the commonwealth down a path of requiring labels for more things. 

Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Petersburg, noted she sees restaurants “more times than not” already indicating food sensitivities or allergens with an asterisk or italics on menus, and Boysko’s bill would be, “an additional step into work already being done with menus.”

The bill passed 3-2 in the subcommittee and 7-6 in the Senate Education and Health Committee, with Republicans voting in opposition.