Homeland Security officials are publicly calling out Fairfax County, Virginia, after local authorities released an illegal alien charged with child sex crimes instead of turning him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement — leaving federal agents to hunt him down more than a year later.
Oscar Evaristo Nunez, a Honduran national, was arrested by Fairfax County authorities on Aug. 27, 2025, on charges including aggravated sexual battery of a parent with a child ages 13 to 17, two counts of nonconsensual videotaping of an undressed minor, and two counts of aggravated sexual battery of a victim under 13, according to Fox News and DHS.
Two days later, ICE lodged a detainer with the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. DHS says the county refused to honor it and released Nunez back into the community without notifying federal agents. ICE finally caught up with him on Sept. 15 in a targeted enforcement operation. He remains in federal custody.
"Another criminal illegal alien has been taken off the streets by the brave men and women of ICE, with no help from sanctuary politicians in Fairfax County," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. "This illegal alien from Honduras had been arrested for child sex crimes in August last year, but Fairfax County refused to honor ICE's detainer and let this creep back out onto the streets."
Mullin didn't stop there. "Once again, ICE did the job that these heartless sanctuary politicians won't do: enforce the law and protect American lives," he said. "DHS is calling on Governor Abigail Spanberger and her fellow sanctuary politicians to stop putting the needs of illegal aliens over the safety of the American people."
The case marks at least the third time Fairfax County has released an illegal alien accused of sex crimes instead of cooperating with federal immigration authorities, according to The New American. Fox News reported separately that three illegal immigrants accused of child sex crimes were released on bond in the county.
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Governor Spanberger, a Democrat who took office in January 2026, has moved Virginia further away from federal immigration enforcement, including directing state agencies to terminate agreements with ICE under the 287(g) program, according to Fox News. She was not governor when Nunez was arrested, and the detainer was filed in August 2025.
Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano — whose office has drawn scrutiny from the Department of Justice this year, per PJ Media — continues to prosecute Nunez in absentia. A spokesperson for Descano told Fox News Digital that ICE detainers are handled by the sheriff and that the case was pending. Nunez's plea hearing, originally scheduled for Friday, has been continued to Nov. 5.
The fight over Nunez's release is the latest flashpoint between the Trump administration and Virginia's sanctuary jurisdictions. DHS and congressional Republicans have been at odds with Descano and Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid over what they describe as a lax approach to prosecuting illegal aliens and cooperating with federal authorities.
For residents of Fairfax County, the practical result is simple: a man facing multiple child sex crime charges was back on their streets for more than a year, not because a judge found him innocent, but because local officials chose not to make a phone call. ICE made the arrest anyway. The county that released him never had to explain why a child predator's freedom was worth protecting.
Our Take
Let's be clear about what happened here. A man accused of sexually battering children under 13 and secretly filming an undressed minor was arrested by Fairfax County police, booked, and then — with an ICE detainer sitting in the file — walked out the door. Not because a judge freed him. Not because the charges collapsed. Because sanctuary politicians decided federal law doesn't apply inside their borders.
This isn't a paperwork problem. It's a choice. Fairfax County officials had a predator in custody and chose to hand him back to the community. For fourteen months, parents in that county sent their kids to school, to soccer practice, to sleepovers, never knowing the county had rolled the dice on their safety to make a political point.
And notice the deflection. Descano's office says ICE detainers are "handled by the sheriff." Everyone points at everyone else, and the only agency that actually did its job was the one sanctuary politicians love to smear — ICE. The men and women in that agency tracked down a child sex crime suspect their own local government refused to hold.
Spanberger's timing deserves attention too. She wasn't in office when Nunez was released, but since taking the governor's mansion she's spent 2026 shredding Virginia's 287(g) agreements and telling state agencies to stop working with federal immigration officers. That's not a governor protecting her constituents. That's a governor putting her party's donor base ahead of the daughters of Fairfax County.
Mullin is right to name names. Sanctuary jurisdictions need to be named, shamed, and held accountable — every single time a criminal illegal alien walks free and hurts someone. Congress should be looking at every federal dollar that flows into Fairfax County until it starts honoring detainers.
How many more children have to be victimized before Virginia Democrats admit that "sanctuary" was never about compassion? It was about power. And they're using your kids' safety to get it.
