DHS blasts Fairfax after county frees accused child sex offender despite ICE hold

ICE arrested a Honduran illegal immigrant charged with child sex crimes after Fairfax freed him despite a detainer, DHS says sanctuary leaders put politics over public safety.

Federal agents took Oscar Evaristo Nunez into custody more than a year after Fairfax County, Virginia, released him from its jail over the objections of immigration authorities. Homeland Security officials say the county refused an ICE detainer and put a man accused of preying on children back on the street.

Fox News reported that Nunez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, was first arrested in Fairfax on Aug. 27, 2025. The charges included aggravated sexual battery of a parent with a child ages 13 to 17, two counts of nonconsensual videotaping of an undressed minor, and two counts of aggravated sexual battery of a victim under 13.

Two days later, Fairfax County Adult Detention Center corrections officials declined to honor the ICE detainer and let him walk. ICE’s Washington field office later arrested him. He remains in federal custody while local criminal proceedings continue without him present.

The case has become a flashpoint over whether local leaders will work with federal immigration enforcement, or leave accused predators free until agents can find them again.

Mullin says Fairfax left a predator on the street

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin did not speak evasively about the county’s choice.

In a statement carried across multiple outlets, Mullin said:

"Another criminal illegal alien has been taken off the streets by the brave men and women of ICE, with no help from sanctuary politicians in Fairfax County."

He added that the Honduran man “had been arrested for child sex crimes in August last year, but Fairfax County refused to honor ICE’s detainer and let this creep back out onto the streets.” Mullin said ICE again did the job local leaders would not do: enforce the law and protect American lives. He called on Gov. Abigail Spanberger and other sanctuary politicians to stop putting the needs of illegal aliens over the safety of the American people.

Robert Guadian, director of ICE’s Washington field office, said that when local officials refuse detainers, they prioritize politics over the safety of their communities.

The New York Post reported that ICE arrested Nunez on Sept. 15 during a targeted enforcement operation. DHS said he illegally entered the United States near Arizona around September 2003 and remains in ICE custody pending immigration proceedings.

Local prosecutors object, after the release

Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s office pushed back once Nunez was in federal hands. A spokesperson said ICE “stalled our ability to seek justice in this case and further delayed the [victim’s] family’s ability to get the closure they deserve” by taking him into custody “during an active prosecution.”

A Descano prosecutor had objected to the original release. The criminal case is now moving forward in absentia. A plea hearing once set for a Friday was continued to Nov. 5.

That sequence is hard to miss. County officials released a man facing multiple child sex charges despite a federal hold. When ICE later locked him up, the same office complained that federal custody slowed the local case. The public is left watching a custody fight while the underlying accusations involve children.

Similar enforcement fights have played out elsewhere, including large-scale ICE operations in New York aimed at removing illegal immigrants with serious records.

Sheriff stays silent as Spanberger’s office answers

Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid runs the jail that released Nunez. Fox News Digital sought comment from her office and a Fairfax County spokesman. Neither had responded by press time.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s office offered a different frame. A spokesperson said the Democrat “strongly believes violent criminals who are in the United States illegally should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and deported.” The same statement said that under her leadership, the Virginia Department of Corrections “continues the long-standing practice of notifying ICE when individuals born outside of the United States are in state custody.” It also noted her past work as a federal law enforcement officer who pursued child predators and said she will “always prioritize the safety and well-being of Virginia families and kids.”

The Nunez local arrest and release happened before Spanberger took office in January. ICE and reporting on the case still tie the broader climate to her executive directives undoing Youngkin-era cooperation with ICE, plus a state law restricting cooperative agreements between local authorities and DHS. A George H.W. Bush-appointed judge temporarily blocked that law last month.

State notification policies do not erase what happened inside a Fairfax jail: a detainer was lodged, the county declined it, and a man accused of sex crimes against children walked free until federal agents caught up with him more than a year later.

Virginia has seen other cases in which an illegal immigrant released years earlier later faced a grave charge, keeping the cost of weak custody and weak cooperation in plain view for families who live with the results.

Detainers exist for a reason

An ICE detainer is a formal request that a jail hold someone for a short window so federal agents can take custody. It is one of the basic tools that keeps criminal illegal immigrants from cycling straight back into neighborhoods while immigration cases proceed.

Breitbart reported the same core facts: Fairfax released Nunez despite the child sexual abuse charges and the ICE detainer, and he will stay in ICE custody pending deportation after the later federal arrest.

When local leaders refuse those holds, ICE must hunt the same person on the street. That burns time, manpower, and attention that could go to the next case. It also leaves victims’ families waiting while officials argue about jurisdiction.

The Trump administration has pressed this point nationwide, pairing street-level arrests with policy moves such as third-country deportation deals for people other nations will not take back. The Fairfax fight fits the same pattern: federal officers clean up after local non-cooperation.

Descano’s office says federal custody delayed justice. DHS says Fairfax created the danger by releasing him in the first place. Both cannot be the full story at once. The timeline favors the federal account. The county had him. ICE asked them to hold him. They said no. More than a year later, ICE found him again.

Charges that should have ended the debate

The charging list is not a paperwork dispute. Aggravated sexual battery counts involving a child 13 to 17, a victim under 13, and nonconsensual videotaping of an undressed minor are among the most serious accusations a local justice system handles. A prosecutor inside Descano’s own office objected to the release. That internal dissent did not keep Nunez locked up for ICE.

Sanctuary rules and cooperative-agreement limits are sold as compassion or resource management. In practice, they force federal agents into a second arrest of someone already in a county cell. Taxpayers fund both the local jail and the later ICE operation. Victims wait either way.

Accountability fights in other states show the same tension between progressive prosecutors and federal law, including cases where a New York prosecutor alleged political targeting inside a high-profile office. The common thread is simple: when politics steer charging and custody decisions, public safety becomes secondary.

Funding fights track the same divide. Washington has moved to claw back money from programs critics say reward illegal immigration, including a nearly $1 billion Trump administration clawback aimed at those pipelines. Local non-cooperation and federal enforcement are two sides of one policy choice.

Nunez is now in ICE custody. Fairfax still has a pending case it must try without the defendant in the room. The plea date sits on the calendar for Nov. 5. None of that restores the year he spent free after a refused detainer.

When a county turns away a federal hold on a man accused of child sex crimes, it is not neutral. It is a decision, and families in Fairfax are the ones who live with it.