ICE seeks to keep Honduran suspect in custody after alleged police gun grab in Virginia
Federal immigration officials have placed a detainer on Nehemia Noel Fuentes-Banegas, a Honduran man accused of trying to seize a Fairfax police officer’s firearm during a June incident in Annandale.
In a June confrontation in Annandale, Northern Virginia, Nehemia Noel Fuentes-Banegas allegedly left a home during an argument while carrying two knives, injured himself, and escaped into a wooded area. Police searching the brush say he surfaced and seized a Fairfax County officer’s service weapon, prompting the officer to fire a warning shot that struck Fuentes-Banegas’s shoulder and a second officer to deploy a Taser.
He was taken into custody and charged with attempted disarming of a law-enforcement officer. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed a detainer, requesting that local officials notify federal authorities before any release. DHS officials highlighted his unlawful entry through Texas in 2022 and criticized Virginia’s sanctuary policies, naming Governor Abigail Spanberger’s administration as a factor in what they described as a rise in illegal-alien crime.
Why it matters
The case links local violent crime to federal immigration enforcement and sparks debate over sanctuary policies.
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