Steve Cortes said that Fairfax County’s refusal to honor immigration detainers in the case of a repeatedly arrested noncitizen signifies a breakdown in public safety enforcement and raises concerns about federal-local coordination. Cortes made his statement in an interview with South Fairfax News.
“When a man with ten arrests and nineteen charges gets released not once but twice because Fairfax County treats ICE detainers like junk mail, you’re not looking at ‘sanctuary’ — you’re looking at state-sponsored negligence,” said Cortes, Founder. “The elites call this enlightened. Normal Americans call it dangerous.”
The Washington D.C. Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of a Salvadoran national in Fairfax County after local officials refused to honor two immigration detainers. The individual, who had a long criminal history, was reportedly released twice despite federal detainers, prompting federal re-arrest. This case highlights tensions between federal immigration enforcement and local “sanctuary” jurisdiction policies.
According to ICE, Fairfax County officials refused two immigration detainers—one filed in August 2023 and another in July 2025—and released the suspect back into the community both times. The agency described this refusal as the reason the individual was able to re-enter the community prior to his federal re-arrest. The most recent arrest occurred on October 24, 2025, after the July 2025 detainer was ignored.
ICE’s October 2025 release states that the Salvadoran national was arrested ten times between 2018 and 2025 and charged with 19 different crimes, including malicious shooting, unlawful wounding, use of a firearm in a felony, assault and battery, grand larceny, among others. The individual first entered the United States illegally in 2015, and despite an immigration judge ordering his removal in 2016, he remained in the country. Federal authorities say these repeated offenses and detainer-ignoring by local officials triggered his re-apprehension.
Cortes is Founder and President of League of American Workers and senior political advisor to CatholicVote. He is a former senior advisor to President Trump and JD Vance, as well as a commentator for Fox News and CNN. Cortes regularly releases documentaries and columns at cortesinvestigates.com.