Virginia has become a hotbed for illegal immigrant crime following a string of recent murders.
In just over a month, three illegal immigrants have been accused of carrying out brutal killings — including one where the victim was a 3-month-old infant — in Fairfax County, which has notoriously flouted Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) detainers.
President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan is now calling on sanctuary leaders in the state to get on board to work with ICE. In an appearance on Fox News Thursday, the former ICE director encouraged authorities in the commonwealth to make deals with the feds that mimic Homan’s agreements in Minneapolis.
“Elections have consequences,” Homan said of the recent killings. “I lived in Virginia. [Virginia Governor Abigail] Spanberger took over and she moved so far left, she’s not even recognizable anymore. Look, in that city, Fairfax, they’ve been a sanctuary city. I’ve been complaining about them for years.”
“Sanctuaries are sanctuaries for criminals and for any politician, or chief of police, or the sheriff, they want to say they’re not gonna enforce federal immigration law, not their job, they can’t honor ICE detainers, they don’t think they’re legal, we can do the same thing we did in Minneapolis. We can do the same thing, talk to the sheriffs, talk to the chiefs. If you don’t want to honor detainers, I get it we can litigate that in courts,” he said.
Sanctuary politicians, like @GovernorVA, REFUSE to put the safety of American citizens first.
It is common sense. Sanctuary politicians must cooperate with @ICEgov and stop releasing criminals from their jails to create more innocent American victims. pic.twitter.com/kCo7PttMid
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) April 2, 2026
Trump sent Homan to Minneapolis following the deaths of anti-ICE activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Homan took on the role of lowering the temperature with the goal of drawing down the number of federal immigration agents deployed to the Twin Cities.
By the end of his deployment, Homan had brokered what he described as “unprecedented” levels of cooperation with authorities in Minnesota, who he said had agreed to hand over illegal immigrants as soon as they were to be released. Homan said at the time that ICE officers would be strategically stationed nearby, so local authorities didn’t have to hold the inmates longer than local charges would allow.
Homan is now offering to do the same in Virginia.
“There’s nothing illegal about you calling ICE before you release them, and we’ll be there to take custody. You don’t have to hold them one minute past what you would normally hold them on your charges. Just give us a call, it’s free, and we’ll be there. We’ll even strategically locate deportation officers near those jails,” he told Fox News host Will Cain.
“That’s the success we had in Minneapolis, we got record cooperation there. We can do the same thing in Virginia. But I truly believe they hate Trump more than they care about their public safety because the common sense approach is call us and we’ll be there and take that public safety threat off the street,” he added.
Guatemalan illegal immigrant Misael Lopez Gomez, 28, was arrested Friday after he allegedly killed his 3-month-old daughter in Fairfax County, according to WUSA9.
Another Guatemalan illegal immigrant, Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy, 38, was arrested Sunday after he allegedly repeatedly stabbed a man to death in Fairfax County, according to ABC7.
An illegal immigrant with 30 prior arrests was arrested in February after he allegedly fatally stabbed 41-year-old mother Stephanie Minter. The Sierra Leone national, Abdul Jalloh, 32, allegedly left Minter’s lifeless body at a Fairfax County bus stop when he fled the scene.
ICE has arrested thousands of illegal immigrants in Virginia who pose threats to “public safety,” but has had to operate without the help of local authorities, according to Homan.
“We had to go out and look for them, which is dangerous for the community, dangerous for the officer, dangerous for the alien … we’re gonna keep doing it,” Homan said.
“Give us custody in your jail before you release them, and you’re gonna see the crime rate drop significantly,” he said.
