(CNN) A Virginia police officer has been suspended after he turned over to immigration officials a driver who was wanted for skipping a deportation hearing, police said Tuesday.

An internal police investigation was launched after the officer, while handling a traffic accident on September 21, noticed one of the drivers did not have a state driver's license, Fairfax County Police Chief Edwin Roessler Jr. said

When the officer looked up the driver's information, he found that the person was wanted by US Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE) on a warrant for failing to show up to a deportation hearing, the chief said in a statement.

The officer contacted an ICE agent, detained the driver and then turned over custody to the agent who responded to the scene, he said.

The police department since 2007 has banned officers from taking people into custody based only on an immigration law violation, according to the statement. Officers get training that "reinforces to our personnel that we do not enforce nor detain for administrative warrants and we have no authority to enforce federal law," Roessler said.

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