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The Trump administration says “sanctuary politicians” in Northern Virginia “have blood on their hands” after an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal history was released by police and allegedly killed a man in his home a day later.
A man was found shot dead in his Northern Virginia home on Wednesday. The suspected shooter, 23-year-old Marvin Morales-Ortez — an illegal immigrant from El Salvador residing in the United States — had been in custody Tuesday on malicious wounding and brandishing a firearm charges, but police released him after the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office dropped the charges.
Officers investigated the murder scene Wednesday afternoon and night, according to local media. Following a manhunt, Morales-Ortez was eventually tracked down and arrested. Court records showed Morales-Ortez had been charged with at least seven crimes in Fairfax County at the time of his latest arrest and was a suspected MS-13 member.
“The charges were nolle prossed due to insufficient evidence to move forward with the criminal case,” a spokesperson for the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Office, headed by George Soros-backed Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano, told Fox News Digital. “The victim told police that they had moved out of the country and would not be coming to court to cooperate in proceedings, regardless of timing. Sadly, without the victim’s necessary testimony, we could not move forward.”
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Both Fairfax County Police and Descano’s office said that the decision on whether to follow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainers ultimately falls under the purview of the sheriff’s office, led by Stacey Kincaid. Fox News Digital reached out to the sheriff’s office for an explanation about how it handles ICE detainers and whether it cooperates, or not, with federal immigration enforcement.
“The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office follows all local, state, and federal laws when determining whether a person is subject to release from the ADC. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is automatically notified any time a person is booked into the ADC. In this instance, ICE was aware of Morales Ortez’s incarceration and elected not to seek a judicial warrant to ensure he remained in custody,” Fox News Digital was told. “Accordingly, and consistent with our policies and the law, once the court issued an order dismissing his cases, Mr. Morales Ortez was released.”
Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger, according to local Virginia news outlet WJLA-TV, is currently considering Kincaid for a top Virginia State Police position.
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In response to this incident, a Homeland Security spokesperson said they “have blood on their hands.”
“This is nothing more than sanctuary politicians trying to pass the blame for their REFUSAL to protect American citizens,” the spokesperson said. “To honor a detainer, officials do NOT need a judicial warrant. The sanctuary politicians of Fairfax have blood on their hands. They should have turned this serial criminal illegal alien over to ICE law enforcement–instead they chose to RELEASE him back into Virginia neighborhoods.”
While Morales-Ortez has been charged with at least seven crimes in Fairfax County since 2020, including assault and first-degree murder, he was only found guilty in one theft case, according to local media and court records, which indicated that Morales-Ortez was fined $300 but has yet to pay.
Virginians 4 Safe Communities, a public safety group critical of Descano, slammed the Northern Virginia county’s Soros-backed top cop amid news of Morales-Ortez’s alleged murder and the fact he was released from custody just a day before committing it.
“For Steve Descano’s office, letting violent criminals out to commit more crimes isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. But he bungles so many cases you can’t always tell where the incompetence ends and the ideology begins,” Sean Kennedy, Virginians for Safe Communities president, told Fox News Digital. “That a dangerous offender would go free and create more victims is so commonplace in Fairfax that may have become numb to it. Descano exploits that.”
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Under President Donald Trump’s second administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in Virginia have nearly tripled compared to the previous administration. Last month, Homeland Security (DHS) called out some of the state’s “worst of the worst” dangerous and violent illegal immigrant offenders captured in just a week’s time.
The undocumented immigrant offenders highlighted by DHS came from Central America and the Caribbean, including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. Meanwhile, their crimes ranged from drug smuggling to domestic violence, rape, “carnal abuse,” making terroristic threats, extortion and more.
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