Federal officials on Monday blasted Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger for ending cooperation with ICE after an illegal migrant with a lengthy rap sheet was charged with killing a woman at random in Fairfax County.
The Department of Homeland Security slammed an executive order signed by Ms. Spanberger when she took office in January that bars Virginia State Police from working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain illegal immigrants linked to crimes.
“This is yet another American death at the hands of someone who shouldn’t be here that could have been prevented,” the agency posted Monday on X.
The DHS referenced the Feb. 23 slaying of 41-year-old Stephanie Minter, a mother who was fatally stabbed at a bus shelter along Richmond Highway in the Alexandria portion of Fairfax County.
Local authorities and Homeland Security said the slaying was carried out by Abdul Jalloh, a Sierra Leone national with several arrests for violent crimes.
Those arrests include four other stabbings, two assaults and a 2018 rape. In total, Jalloh has been arrested more than 30 times for crimes such as theft, drug possession, firing a weapon, trespassing and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Jalloh, 32, spent two years behind bars for a 2023 stabbing in which he attacked a 73-year-old man. The remaining five years for his malicious wounding sentence were suspended.
The Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, which is run by George Soros-backed top prosecutor Steve Descano, said it sought to put Jalloh back in jail last fall following another arrest.
Prosecutors said a judge chose not only to allow Jalloh to walk free but also to end his probation.
The prosecutors said they subpoenaed Jalloh for his prior arrests, but since many of his victims were also homeless, they struggled to find victims to talk with to build a case against him.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said his detectives supplied prosecutors with ample evidence against Jalloh in earlier arrests.
The suspect came to the U.S. illegally in 2012 and had an ICE detainer lodged against him in 2020, officials said. A federal judge later issued a final order of removal to a country other than Sierra Leone.
Former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares blamed Ms. Spanberger’s anti-ICE executive order for paving the way for this killing.
“Not even a a month since I called out Gov. Abigail Spanberger for signing her EO banning law enforcement from cooperating with ICE we see the bitter fruits,” Mr. Miyares, a Republican, posted on X. “This is exactly the criminal first, victim last policies that get innocent Americans killed.”
Jalloh remains behind bars following his arrest last week. He is scheduled to return to court in May.
