Virginia’s former Republican attorney general, Jason Miyares, posted to social media revealing that a policy from the state’s former Democrat governor Ralph Northam prevented Old Dominion University from learning about the criminal background of the Islamic terrorist Mohamed Bailor Jalloh.
Gov Ralph Northam’s legacy. Jalloh was convicted of a terrorism felony, sentenced to 11 yrs in prison. Despite this felony, he applied & enrolled at ODU with the school having no idea his criminal history because of the 2019 “social justice” law signed by Northam. pic.twitter.com/igdZqG45KO
— Jason Miyares (@JasonMiyaresVA) March 15, 2026
“Per Virginian law, public colleges are barred from questioning prospective applicants on their criminal histories or denying them admission on the basis of criminal history,” the post read. The provision came about via a 2019 woke social justice initiative signed into law by Northam.
If this policy had not been in place, the university would have been able to discover the criminal past of Jalloh, including when he pleaded guilty to providing material support to the Islamic State in 2017. That plea resulted in an 11 year sentence, but was cut to just two and a half years long after Jalloh completed a substance abuse program.
The federal Bureau of Prisons had admitted that there was a loophole that allowed those imprisoned on terrorism charges to get out of lengthy sentences through said program, but that loophole has now been closed.
Two radical progressive policies enabled Jalloh to escape the justice our courts handed down. If tough on crime policies remained, he would still be in prison today. If universities were able to examine the backgrounds of their applicants for even something as extreme as being convicted of terrorism, Jalloh would never have had his connection to ODU.
Instead, the work of the Left allowed him to be reintroduced into society and enabled.