A 23-year-old illegal immigrant with a history of criminal convictions was released by police in Northern Virginia on Tuesday and allegedly killed a man at his home the following day, federal officials said.
The suspect, Marvin Morales-Ortez, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, had been jailed in Fairfax County on charges of malicious wounding and brandishing a firearm. Prosecutors dropped those charges, citing insufficient evidence and the victim’s inability to testify, leading to Morales-Ortez’s release. Police allege he killed a man the next day.
Court records show Morales-Ortez has faced at least seven criminal charges in Fairfax County since 2020, including assault and first-degree murder. He has one conviction for theft that resulted in a $300 fine.
The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office stated it followed the law by releasing Morales-Ortez, noting that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not obtain a judicial warrant to detain him. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) strongly disputed this handling, with a spokesman asserting: “To honor a detainer, officials do NOT need a judicial warrant.” The spokesperson also added: “The sanctuary politicians of Fairfax have blood on their hands. They should have turned this serial criminal illegal alien over to ICE law enforcement—instead they chose to RELEASE him back into Virginia neighborhoods.”
The case comes amid a series of recent incidents involving illegal aliens that have drawn national attention, including an arrest of a foreign national who allegedly attempted to join ISIS after being released into the country and a fatal DUI incident in California linked to sanctuary laws.
