US Politics

Major blue county in hot seat after violent illegal alien arrested 10 times finally nabbed by ICE

By Eric October 30, 2025

Fairfax County officials are facing intense scrutiny following a recent report from the Trump-era Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that claims the county’s sanctuary policies enabled a Salvadoran national, Jorge Armando Melendez-Gonzalez, to evade immigration enforcement despite a lengthy criminal record. Melendez-Gonzalez, 27, was arrested ten times and charged with 19 crimes over a span of just over seven years, including serious offenses such as malicious shooting and unlawful wounding. Despite his illegal entry into the U.S. in 2015 and a subsequent deportation order in 2016, he managed to remain in the country, accumulating a troubling history of violent crimes, including a 2023 shooting that injured three men in Falls Church, Virginia.

The controversy centers around the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center’s decision to disregard two immigration detainers lodged by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The first detainer was issued in 2023 and another on July 18, 2025, both of which the county officials allegedly failed to honor, allowing Melendez-Gonzalez to be released back into the community. DHS officials criticized these actions, asserting that such sanctuary policies compromise public safety by allowing dangerous individuals to remain free. Fairfax County officials, however, have pushed back against this characterization, with County Chairman Jeffrey McKay stating that the county does not consider itself a sanctuary jurisdiction and adheres to federal and state laws. He emphasized that the decisions regarding ICE detainers and judicial sentencing fall under the purview of the sheriff’s office and the courts, not the county board.

The fallout from this situation has ignited a heated debate about the implications of sanctuary policies on public safety. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin condemned the county’s actions, arguing that these policies protect criminals and endanger residents. The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office has defended its stance, explaining that they lacked a judicial warrant from ICE to keep Melendez-Gonzalez in custody. As the community grapples with the ramifications of this case, it raises critical questions about the balance between immigration enforcement and public safety, the responsibilities of local jurisdictions, and the broader implications of sanctuary policies across the nation.

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FIRST ON FOX:
Fairfax County officials are in the hot seat after the Trump Department of Homeland Security says the county’s
sanctuary policies
allowed an illegal alien to walk free despite having been arrested ten times and having 19 criminal charges, including for malicious shooting and unlawful wounding.
The top Fairfax County official is disputing DHS’ characterization of it as a sanctuary county. However, Salvadoran national Jorge Armando Melendez-Gonzalez, 27, was arrested 10 times and has been charged with 19 different crimes in just over seven years, between March 19, 2018, and July 18, 2025, according to DHS.
He was finally arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Oct. 24 after DHS said officials at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center declined to honor an
immigration detainer
it lodged against him on July 18.
The July detainer was not the first time Fairfax County ignored an ICE request to hold Melendez-Gonzalez. ICE also lodged a detainer against him in 2023. According to DHS, “Fairfax County officials refused to honor the immigration detainer and released this dangerous criminal alien back into the community.”
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The agency said Melendez-Gonzalez
entered the U.S. illegally
in June 2015. An immigration judge ordered his removal from the country just over a year later in October 2016.
Despite this, Melendez-Gonzalez stayed in the country for just over ten years, racking up a long list of offenses in Virginia. He has arrests for three counts of malicious shooting, unlawful wounding, use of a firearm in commission of a felony, assault and battery, assault on a family member, grand larceny, trespassing, possessing a false government identification, public intoxication, disturbing the peace and making a false statement to a law enforcement officer.
He has two felony convictions for unlawful wounding stemming from a 2023 shooting, which carry sentences of three years in confinement. However, his sentence was reduced to a year.
According to a statement from the Fairfax County Police Department, detectives arrested Melendez-Gonzalez in August 2023 in a shooting that injured three men outside a business in Falls Church, Virginia.
Fox News Digital reached out to Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano, a Democrat, for the reason for Melendez-Gonzalez’s sentence being suspended. A spokesperson for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office declined to comment, referring Fox News Digital to the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, which, the spokesperson said, “is responsible for handling ICE detainers.”
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Allyson Conroy, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, which runs the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, told Fox News Digital, “We did not have a judicial warrant on file from ICE for Jorge Armando Melendez-Gonzalez for either date, Aug. 28, 2023, nor for July 18 of this year.”
Conroy said “the sheriff’s office could not maintain custody over Mr. Melendez-Gonzalez.”
Regarding the suspension of Melendez-Gonalez’s sentence, Conroy said that decision “is in the discretion of the judge or the assigned commonwealth’s attorney. You should contact those individuals for further information.”
Fox News Digital also reached out to representatives for Fairfax County regarding the Fairfax County Circuit Court’s decision but did not immediately receive a response.
Fairfax County Chairman Jeffrey McKay, also a Democrat, responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, saying, “Fairfax County, through the Board of Supervisors, does not control or make decisions regarding ICE detainers or judicial sentencing; those responsibilities fall to the sheriff and the courts, respectively.”
He said Fairfax County “does not consider itself a sanctuary jurisdiction and continues to follow all applicable federal and state laws.”
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DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, however, placed the blame squarely on the county’s sanctuary policies.
“These sanctuary policies make Virginians less safe,” McLaughlin told Fox News Digital.
“Fairfax County refused to honor two ICE arrest detainers and chose to release this criminal back onto Virginia’s streets. Virginia sanctuary politicians protected this criminal illegal alien and allowed him to terrorize American citizens,” she added.
“Thanks to the brave men and women of ICE law enforcement, this serial violent criminal with 10 previous arrests is now off of Virginia’s streets.”