DHS: In Virginia’s largest county, at least half of murder suspects are illegal aliens

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin says that roughly 50% of murders in liberal Fairfax County, Virginia, are committed by illegal aliens.

“That’s just in Fairfax. You think about what’s happening in Virginia,” Mullin said last week of the murder rate tied to illegals. “When you make Virginia a sanctuary city, you encourage more illegal activities.”

Mullin slammed Virginia Democrats, who he said “criminalized” deportations of illegal aliens, specifically charging Virginia’s Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger from preventing local law enforcement from cooperating with removing repeat offenders.

In fact, DHS data puts the figure higher in April, with 3 in 4 murder suspects charged in the county this year identified as illegal aliens.

Mullin made the statement during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Manassas last week that resulted in the arrest of a repeat criminal illegal alien.

Mullin told Fox News the multiple-time felon, Marvin Len Morales, had been deported twice and self-deported once before re-entering the country.

His rap sheet includes felony drug possession and driving under the influence.

Spanberger signed an executive order on her first day in office barring Virginia state law enforcement from cooperating with ICE, reversing a prior policy that had state troopers joining federal immigration enforcement operations, reported local ABC News 7.

When asked if the Democrat governor needs to reverse that policy, Mullin was blunt.

“Yes, absolutely,” Mullin told ABC 7. “Seven out of the top 10 safest cities in the country cooperate with ICE. And I use Oklahoma for example: Oklahoma cooperates every day with ICE enforcement. We’re not having these issues on the streets in Oklahoma City or the streets in Tulsa.”

In a typical case, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano dropped multiple charges against illegal alien Abdul Jalloh, a Sierra Leone national with more than 30 prior arrests, despite police warnings he was too dangerous to approach.

An email from a Fairfax County police major obtained by local media warned the county attorney’s office “it is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again,” indicating the major previously warned the county attorney that Jalloh might kill.

His arrests include charges for rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft, trespassing, larceny, firing a weapon, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and pickpocketing, said DHS.

Jalloh, who entered the U.S. in 2012, is now accused of stabbing Stephanie Minter, 41, a single mother, to death at a bus stop in February.

Sheriff Stacey Kincaid refused to honor an ICE detainer on Jalloh prior to the killing.

An ICE detainer is a formal request from federal immigration authorities asking a local jail or law enforcement agency to hold an individual in custody until ICE can take them into federal custody for deportation proceedings.

ICE had lodged a detainer on Jalloh as far back as 2020, where it was found Jalloh should be deported, said DHS.

In another case, Marvin Fernando Morales-Ortez, an alleged MS-13 member from El Salvador, murdered a Reston man in Dec. 2025, said DHS.

The homicide came one day after local media noted Fairfax County released Morales-Ortez from jail after he was arrested for malicious wounding, assault and battery and brandishing a firearm.

Previously, Descano’s office offered a five-year plea deal to two illegal aliens who stabbed a man to death at a park in July 2024, according to DHS.

ICE had lodged multiple detainers on one of the suspects that Fairfax County refused to honor before the killing.

“This 5-year sweetheart plea deal for murder is insane. This is yet another example of Fairfax sanctuary politicians siding with criminal illegal aliens over U.S. citizens,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis. “How many more times must they release criminals into our neighborhoods to create more innocent victims?”

Virginia’s previous Attorney General Jason Miyares told a congressional subcommittee that Fairfax County has approximately 200,000 illegal aliens, compared to roughly 25,000 in neighboring Loudoun County, which does not maintain sanctuary policies, reported the Federalist.

Both Kincaid and Descano were subpoenaed by the House Judiciary subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement about the case, said ABC 7.

Descano was scourged by the GOP for policies on his official website that said the office will “consider immigration consequences where possible” and states that “prosecutors shall consider … the collateral immigration consequences of the specific crime(s) the defendant is charged with,” reported WTOP.

That language has been subsequently scrubbed from the site, after the Justice Department began an investigation into the policies.

“He’s as dangerous as the criminals themselves,” Stephanie Minter’s mother told local ABC News about Descano. “He’s releasing the criminals back on the street. He needs to be put out of office.”