Fairfax County’s sanctuary policy , which the Board of Supervisors passed in January 2021, has contributed to the county’s recent increase in violent crime. In 2023, violent crime in Fairfax County increased 8.7%, the seventh-most significant increase in the country. Aggravated assaults, in particular, increased from 579 in 2022 to 679 in 2023.
Last month, Fairfax County police arrested Franklin Viera Guevara, a 29-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador, for child neglect, child cruelty, and abduction. Police officers responding to a call at an apartment in the Groveton area of Fairfax County found two brothers, 7 and 9 years old, chained to a post by their ankles.
Guevara, who is the apparent boyfriend of the children’s mother, had been deported in 2019. He subsequently reentered the country illegally, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Guevara is not the first illegal immigrant in Fairfax County to be charged with a crime, but because of our local politicians, the statistics are intentionally hidden from us. This week, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Fairfax County Police Department inquiring about the number of arrests of illegal immigrants in Fairfax County since the implementation of the sanctuary policy. A FOIA office employee responded via email, “Please be advised that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors enacted policy on January 26, 2021 ... which dictates strong limitations on the ability to share Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) law enforcement material. ... Additionally, please be advised that the FCPD does not track crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.”
From media reports, though, we know of some hideous offenses occurring in Fairfax County. On July 5, 2023, for example, the county’s police department arrested a Honduran national in the country illegally and charged him with felony carnal knowledge of a child 13 to 14 years of age. The Fairfax County Detention Center ignored an ICE detainer and released the man from custody five days later.
In February 2024, Fairfax County police arrested the same man again, charging him with two more counts of felony carnal knowledge of a child 13 to 14 years of age and two counts of felony indecent liberties with a child less than 15 years of age. The Fairfax County Detention Center released the man later that same day he was arrested, before an ICE detainer was filed.
Two months later, the Honduran man, whose identity was not released, was arrested again in Bladensburg, Maryland. With regard to the man, Enforcement and Removal Operations Washington Field Office Director Liana Castano said , “This Honduran noncitizen stands accused of some very serious crimes and represented a threat to the children of the Washington, D.C. area.” She continued, “When local jurisdictions have policies in place which prohibit them from cooperating with ICE ERO and from honoring our lawfully issued detainers and administrative warrants, they put the suspects, law enforcement officers, and most importantly, the members of our local communities at risk."
And many illegal immigrants are indeed putting the county’s residents in danger. In July 2024, for example, Nicacio Hernandez Gonzalez, 47, was stabbed to death in Fairfax County. Police arrested Maldin Anibal Guzman, a 27-year-old illegal immigrant, in connection with the murder. Between July 2022 and July 2024, Guzman had a rap sheet that included 23 charges — eight of them felonies.
ICE had issued several detainers prior to the murder of Gonzalez, all of which Fairfax County officials ignored in accordance with their sanctuary policy.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
As a consequence of President Joe Biden’s open border policy, coupled with Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors’ sanctuary policy, Guevara, Guzman, and the Honduran arrested on charges of multiple sex offenses against children have been able to cross the southern border and seek refuge in our county. But how many more crimes are being committed that Fairfax County’s residents are not allowed to know about because of the local sanctuary policy?
And where is our sanctuary from these criminals who are here illegally and wreaking havoc on our society?
Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a contributor for the Washington Examiner, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and the Fairfax chapter leader of the Independent Women’s Network.
Local News
