Illegal immigrant crimes in swing state highlighted as grandmother killed in carjacking

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The state of Virginia has been hit by another violent crime, allegedly committed by an illegal immigrant, amid an ongoing debate about "sanctuary" policies across the country and in some parts of the state.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed to Fox News that the suspect arrested for the fatal carjacking of a grandmother in Virginia on Sunday is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.

Jose Aguilar-Martinez, 21, is charged in the fatal Sunday encounter that resulted in the death of 54-year-old Melody Waldecker, a grandmother, FOX 5 DC reported. 

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Melody Waldecker and Jose Aguilar-Martinez (Handout)

According to the Loudon County Sheriff’s Office, Aguilar-Martinez is accused of carjacking Waldecker on July 28. Investigators determined she was struck by her own vehicle as the suspected carjacker fled the scene. ICE confirmed that Aguilar-Martinez entered the U.S. as a "gotaway," meaning he entered the U.S. without being captured by Border Patrol. 

The agency said it has placed a detainer request on him with local authorities, which is a request that he be transferred into ICE custody when he is eventually released from local custody.

The sheriff’s office said in an update that Aguilar-Martinez had a California driver's license. California is a sanctuary state and has a policy that allows illegal immigrants to obtain licenses.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ACCUSED OF RUNNING OVER GRANDMOTHER IN FATAL VIRGINIA CARJACKING

The incident follows another crime allegedly involving immigrants in the state. At least two of the men accused of murdering a man and leaving his body near a walking trail in Oakton, Virginia, are illegal immigrants, ABC 7 reported.

Maudin Anibal Guzman-Videz is a Honduran native who entered in 2018 and was released into the U.S., before being ordered removed in 2019 yet remained in the country, according to a statement provided to Fox News Digital by ICE.

According to the agency, he has multiple detainers against him in Fairfax County, but those have not been honored. He has a rap sheet that includes a conviction for assault and entering to commit burglary. However, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office says it did not receive a detainer request for him since his current incarceration in February.

ICE agent (Getty Images)

It has also issued a lengthy statement outlining how it defers to the state attorney general’s opinion that a detainer is only a request, and that it will only honor a detainer if ICE also has a judicial warrant.

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"ICE knows that should they wish to take one of these offenders into custody, all that is required on their part is a judicial warrant authorizing arrest. ICE is notified every time an undocumented immigrant is taken into our custody. Yet, time and again, they make no effort to secure a warrant that would give judicial authority to detain. This inaction is a failure of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not of the Sheriff’s Office," the office said.

"The status of a person as an inmate or an undocumented immigrant does not diminish their right to be free from unlawful seizure, nor does it eliminate their access to due process and equal protection," the sheriff wrote.

That has brought criticism from other officials in the state, who called the reasoning a "cop-out." The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office has had 725 undocumented immigrants in jail over the past year, but only three were transferred to ICE, according to 7 News.

ICE confirmed to Fox News Digital that a second subject arrested in the incident, Wilmer Adalid Guzman-Videz, is an illegal immigrant from Honduras who entered illegally in 2022 and was released with a notice to appear. He was arrested in Washington, D.C., and ICE has lodged a detainer with the city's police, not with Fairfax County Sheriff's Office.

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Virginia is seen as a potential swing state, with some polls suggesting it could be in reach for former President Trump; and illegal immigration has consistently registered as a top issue of concern for voters ahead of the 2024 election. 

Fox News' Bill Melugin, Landon Mion and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.