Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) says areas in his state that consider instituting sanctuary city policies should lose their state funding.

The governor is seeking legislative approval for a policy that will cut funding to law enforcement agencies and jails that do not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he said Thursday.

"We must prioritize the safety of the citizens of the commonwealth and stop localities from returning criminals who entered the country illegally back out into our communities to potentially commit more crimes," Youngkin said during an event in Richmond, Virginia.

Specifically, the proposal will require local law enforcement and jail officials to cooperate with ICE detainers and requires them to provide notice to ICE 48 hours prior to the release of an undocumented immigrant who has committed a crime, or else state funding will be cut off.

Youngkin specified which funds he meant at the event.

"And the type of funds we're talking about are 599 funds," Youngkin said during the Richmond event on Thursday. "There's over $200 million a year in 599 funding that comes from the state to localities, and of course all the funding from the state to localities to operate local and regional jails."

Democratic Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said ICE is already notified when anyone is booked into a local jail but agents often do not make arrangements to pick them up.

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"I don't feel like our governor ever got out of campaign mode," Surovell said. "And he's been constantly putting political labels on policy problems like this for a long time now.

"Given the fact that the governor has already highly politicized this problem, that's not going to do anything to help get anything passed. If he wants to have a real dialogue about it, he ought to turn down the temperature and have a real dialogue."