The Department of Homeland Security said it lodged a detainer in a Fairfax County case, renewing its public dispute with Gov. Abigail Spanberger over cooperation with federal immigration authorities
The Department of Homeland Security said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer asking Virginia officials not to release a man arrested in Fairfax County and charged with abduction with intent to defile and indecent exposure.
According to DHS, police in Annandale responded on June 21 to reports of an indecent exposure and an attempted abduction at a park, and a suspect was taken into custody on June 23. The agency said the man, a Nicaraguan national, now faces those charges. The charges are allegations that have not been proven in court, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted. DHS said the man had been arrested in 2024 on drug-trafficking charges and that ICE lodged a detainer at the time that was not honored.
In a statement, Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis called on Gov. Spanberger and Fairfax County officials to hold the man for ICE, criticizing the state’s sanctuary policies.
A Dispute Over Detainers
DHS said the case is part of a broader disagreement over Virginia’s handling of ICE detainers. According to the agency, Spanberger, during her first days in office, signed executive orders barring state cooperation with ICE and ending 287(g) agreements, the program that lets local officers carry out certain immigration-enforcement functions.
DHS pointed to a number of other recent Virginia cases it has been involved in. Among those it cited that have resulted in a conviction, a Guatemalan national was sentenced in Loudoun County in May to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl. Most of the other cases the agency listed involve pending charges that have not been adjudicated.
The dispute reflects a wider national disagreement between the federal government and so-called sanctuary jurisdictions over how far state and local authorities should cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
Under Governor Spanberger, Virginia has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime. Some of the recent illegal alien crimes in the sanctuary state include:
- In June, ICE lodged a detainer for Jose Nahun Aleman Hernandez, an illegal alien from Mexico, who was charged with molesting a 5-year-old girl in Woodbridge, Virginia.
- In June, ICE lodged a detainer for Cristian Wilfredo Alvarenga Aguilar, an illegal alien charged with carjacking, abduction, assault, and robbery in Herndon, Virginia.
- In May, Aroldo Santos-Velasques, an illegal alien from Guatemala, was sentenced in Loudoun County to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl.
- In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Cristian Romero Saenz-Argueta, an illegal alien from El Salvador, who was arrested in Prince William County, Virginia and charged with raping a girl under the age of 15.
- In May, ICE lodged a detainer for Jorge Enrique Garcia-Rodriguez, an illegal alien from Mexico, who was arrested in Franklin County, Virginia and charged with forcible intercourse with a victim under the age of 13 and SIX counts of possession of child pornography.
- In May, ICE arrested Eduardo Perez-Legra, an illegal alien from Cuba with prior felony convictions for drug trafficking and cocaine possession, in Newport News, Virginia.
- In May, ICE arrested Walvin Victor Hugo Garcia, an illegal alien from Guatemala, after he was released by sanctuary politicians in Fairfax County despite facing charges of raping a child under the age of 13.
- In May, ICE arrested Josue Saul Garcia-Lopez, an illegal alien from El Salvador and MS-13 gang member, in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
- In April, Roni Mendez-Escobar, an illegal alien from Guatemala, was arrested by ICE after previously being released by Fairfax County, despite being charged with possession of child porn with intent to distribute.
- In April, ICE lodged a detainer asking sanctuary politicians in Arlington County to not release Luzvin Orvando Garcia Moran, an illegal alien from Guatemala, after he was arrested for attempted rape.
- In April, Israel Christopher Flores-Ortiz, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, was convicted for NINE counts of assault and battery after he groped multiple underage girls at a high school in Fairfax County.
- In April, the Fairfax County District Attorney’s Office offered an insane plea deal of just 5 years to two illegal aliens who murdered a man at a park and walking trail in Oakton, Virginia in July of 2024.
- In April, Misael Lopez Gomez, an illegal alien from Guatemala, was arrested and charged with murder and felony child abuse after bludgeoning his own 3-month-old daughter to death in Fairfax County.
- In March, Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy, an illegal alien from Guatemala, was arrested and charged with second degree murder after fatally stabbing a man inside his home in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia.
- In February, Abdul Jalloh, an illegal alien from Sierra Leone with more than 30 prior arrests, was charged with murder after fatally stabbing 41-year-old Stephanie Minter at a bus stop in Hybla Valley, Virginia.
