September 11, 2024 Harris's Failings

Fairfax County’s politicians don’t want us to know that their sanctuary policy is putting us in danger

Fairfax County’s sanctuary policy, which the Board of Supervisors passed in January 2021, has contributed to the county’s recent increase in violent crime. In 2023, violent crime in Fairfax County increased 8.7%, the seventh-most significant increase in the country. Aggravated assaults, in particular, increased from 579 in 2022 to 679 in 2023.

Last month, Fairfax County police arrested Franklin Viera Guevara, a 29-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador, for child neglect, child cruelty, and abduction. Police officers responding to a call at an apartment in the Groveton area of Fairfax County found two brothers, 7 and 9 years old, chained to a post by their ankles.

Guevara, who is the apparent boyfriend of the children’s mother, had been deported in 2019. He subsequently reentered the country illegally, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Guevara is not the first illegal immigrant in Fairfax County to be charged with a crime, but because of our local politicians, the statistics are intentionally hidden from us. This week, I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Fairfax County Police Department inquiring about the number of arrests of illegal immigrants in Fairfax County since the implementation of the sanctuary policy. A FOIA office employee responded via email, “Please be advised that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors enacted policy on January 26, 2021 … which dictates strong limitations on the ability to share Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) law enforcement material. … Additionally, please be advised that the FCPD does not track crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.”

From media reports, though, we know of some hideous offenses occurring in Fairfax County. On July 5, 2023, for example, the county’s police department arrested a Honduran national in the country illegally and charged him with felony carnal knowledge of a child 13 to 14 years of age. The Fairfax County Detention Center ignored an ICE detainer and released the man from custody five days later.