The United States Department of Homeland Security announced on July 30 that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lodged a detainer asking Virginia officials not to release Nehemia Noel Fuentes-Banegas, an undocumented immigrant from Honduras, who was arrested for attempting to disarm a police officer in Fairfax County.
According to local authorities, police responded to a report on July 28 of a man who left a house in Annandale armed with two knives after an argument. While officers searched a wooded area for the suspect, he reportedly jumped out from the brush, grabbed an officer’s firearm, and attempted to disarm the officer. Fuentes-Banegas now faces a felony charge of attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer.
Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said, “This criminal illegal alien from Honduras attacked a law enforcement officer and attempted to take the officer’s gun. He has now been charged with attempted disarming of a law enforcement officer. ICE is calling on Governor Abigail Spanberger and her fellow sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this dangerous criminal from jail. Governor Spanberger’s sanctuary policies have made the Commonwealth a magnet for illegal alien crime,” said Bis.
Fuentes-Banegas entered the United States through Texas in 2022 before being released into the country by federal authorities. During her first days in office, Governor Spanberger signed executive orders banning state cooperation with ICE as well as terminating 287(g) state and local agreements.
The Department of Homeland Security statement listed several recent cases involving undocumented immigrants charged or convicted of violent crimes across Virginia during 2024 and 2025.