Abigail Spanberger’s Virginia a ‘hotbed’ for illegal immigrant crime, DHS says after latest rape charge
After yet another illegal immigrant was charged with violent crimes in Fairfax County, Virginia, the Department of Homeland Security is once again appealing to Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger not to allow the charged individual to be released.
In a statement Tuesday, DHS ripped Spanberger on charges of being too soft on illegal immigrant crime, saying, "Under Governor Abigail Spanberger, Virginia has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime."
The latest involves Juan Arevalo Mendez, a 46-year-old twice-deported illegal immigrant from El Salvador who has been charged with rape and abduction in Fairfax County. Arevalo Mendez was arrested last week in Prince William County on charges of rape and abduction with intent to sexually assault stemming from an alleged attack in Fairfax County last September, according to DHS.
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The agency said Arevalo Mendez originally entered the country legally in 1991, but his status was revoked after his first conviction for destruction of property in 1998. He was deported in 2003, illegally reentered the U.S., was deported again in 2014 and illegally reentered again at an unknown date and location.
In addition to the illegal reentries, Arevalo Mendez has a lengthy criminal history that includes multiple convictions for assault, including aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, as well as drug possession, obstructing justice, identity theft and larceny.
The same day he was arrested, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer for Fairfax County officials to hold Arevalo Mendez.
Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis remarked that "DHS is calling on Governor Abigail Spanberger and her fellow sanctuary politicians in Fairfax County to commit to not releasing this dangerous criminal from jail, and to instead turn him over to ICE custody so that we can remove him from our nation and end his crime spree in our country."
Bis added that "Virginia sanctuary politicians need to stop playing Russian roulette with American lives and work with ICE law enforcement to keep criminals out of our communities."
Allyson Conroy, a spokesperson for the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, told Fox News Digital that Arevalo Mendez "remains in the custody of the Sheriff’s Office in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center (ADC)."
Conroy noted that "while it is still too early in the process to know the outcome of his case, ICE has been notified of Mendez’s location at the ADC, and they are able to execute their detainer by responding to the ADC and taking Mendez into custody if and when he is ordered released."
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She emphasized that the "Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office does not obstruct or prevent ICE from acting on their civil detainers."
In its statement, DHS criticized Spanberger for signing an executive order terminating the state’s 287(g) program partnering state and local law enforcement with federal immigration authorities, which it suggested is contributing to the crimes.
According to the agency, Fairfax County has been especially hard hit by illegal immigrant crime in recent months. A suburb of Washington, D.C., Fairfax County is Virginia’s largest county by population and has a Democratic prosecutor, Steve Descano, and a Democratic sheriff, Stacey Kincaid. Both have been criticized by local advocacy groups, Virginians for Safe Communities and Victims Rights Reform Council, for their sanctuary-style approach to enforcement.
DHS detailed 17 alleged instances of serious crimes by illegal immigrants that took place in Virginia in 2026 alone. Nine out of those 17 cases took place in Fairfax County.
In addition to Arevalo Mendez, DHS said that in June ICE also lodged detainers with Fairfax County for Nicaraguan illegal immigrant Moises Domingo Rico Rosales, who was arrested for abduction of person with intent to defile and indecent exposure, and for Cristian Wilfredo Alvarenga Aguilar, an illegal alien charged with abduction, assault, carjacking and robbery.
In May, DHS said that ICE arrested Walvin Victor Hugo Garcia after he was released by Fairfax County despite facing charges of raping a child under the age of 13.
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The month before, ICE arrested Guatemalan illegal immigrant Roni Mendez-Escobar after he was released while charged with possession of child pornography with intent to distribute. That same month, ICE lodged detainers for Salvadoran illegal alien Israel Christopher Flores-Ortiz, who was convicted of nine counts of assault and battery for groping underage girls at a Fairfax County high school; Guatemalan illegal alien Misael Lopez Gomez, who was charged with murder and felony child abuse after allegedly bludgeoning his 3-month-old daughter to death; and two illegal alien murderers, Maldin Anibal Guzman-Videz and Luis Alonzo Sort-Portillo, who were convicted of stabbing a man to death and given plea deals of five years in prison each.
In March, ICE also lodged a detainer for Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy, an illegal alien from Guatemala who was charged with second-degree murder after allegedly fatally stabbing a man inside his home in Bailey’s Crossroads.
Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger’s office and Descano’s office for comment.