“Under Governor Abigail Spanberger, Virginia has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned Tuesday, reporting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has requested that one of the Democrat governor’s sanctuary counties not release an illegal alien arrested on rape and kidnapping charges.
On June 30, Juan Arevalo Mendez, a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, was arrested and charged with the September 2025 forcible rape and kidnapping of an adult with intent to sexually assault in Fairfax County, Virginia.
ICE has filed a detainer request asking sanctuary politicians in Fairfax County, Virginia to not release the criminal illegal alien from jail, so that he may be taken into federal custody and deported.
Mendez, who has already been deported twice, has a long list of prior convictions dating back to 1998, including:
- Assault.
- Aggravated assault – weapon.
- Strongarm aggravated assault – non-family.
- Aggravated assault with a gun – non-family.
- Drug possession.
- Destruction of property.
- Illegal re-entry into the U.S.
- Obstructing justice.
- Making a false report.
Additionally, the illegal alien has prior arrests for identity theft, drug possession, and larceny.
In a statement, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis implored Virginia’s sanctuary politicians to allow ICE to take Mendez into custody in order to “end his crime spree” in the state:
“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.”
“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,” Bis added.
Gov. Spanberger and Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano have been under fire for refusing to cooperate with ICE and releasing notorious criminal illegal aliens who went on to commit additional violent crimes.
Commonwealth Attorney Descano and Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid have been under investigation by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee for their county’s “refusal to cooperate” with federal immigration officials and “prioritization of illegal and criminal aliens over American citizens.”
