Federal immigration officials have lodged a detainer against a Honduran national accused of attempting to disarm a police officer during an encounter in Annandale, Virginia. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is requesting that Fairfax County officials not release Nehemia Noel Fuentes-Banegas after authorities stated he ambushed a Fairfax County police officer.
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), officers responded to a report of a man who had left a home following an argument, allegedly armed with two knives. Police reported that the man also stabbed himself before fleeing into a wooded area. As officers searched the area, Fuentes-Banegas allegedly emerged from the brush, grabbed an officer's firearm, and attempted to disarm the officer, DHS stated. One officer fired his service weapon, and another deployed a Taser, grazing Fuentes-Banegas' shoulder.
Fuentes-Banegas was arrested and charged with attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer. ICE's detainer requests that Fairfax County notify federal authorities before his release. DHS stated that Fuentes-Banegas entered the United States illegally through Texas in 2022 and was released under the Biden administration.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin commented, "This criminal illegal alien from Honduras attacked a law enforcement officer and attempted to take the officer's gun." She added, "He has now been charged with attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer. ICE is calling on Governor Abigail Spanberger and her fellow sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this dangerous criminal from jail."
DHS attributed the incident and similar cases to Virginia's sanctuary policies, which they argue limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and have made the commonwealth "a magnet for illegal alien crime." The department noted that Governor Spanberger signed executive orders ending former Gov. Glenn Youngkin's 287(g) agreements and limiting state cooperation with ICE.
"Under Governor Spanberger, Virginia has become a hotbed of illegal alien crime," DHS stated. The department also referenced the recent arrest of Raul Genesis Ortiz Moran, a Mexican national charged with second-degree murder and aggravated sexual battery in connection with the death of a 2-year-old girl in Louisa County, noting that "This horrific tragedy was completely avoidable because this illegal alien should have never been in our country."