ICE Presses Virginia to Hold Undocumented Guatemalan Charged in Fairfax County Fatal Stabbing
Fairfax County Police in Virginia arrested 38‑year‑old Guatemalan national Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy on Monday and charged him with second‑degree murder after a man was found with multiple stab wounds inside a residence shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday and later died at a hospital. ICE sources told Fox News he has no alien registration number and is believed to have entered the U.S. illegally as a "gotaway" at an unknown time and place, and the agency has lodged an immigration detainer with Fairfax County. DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis publicly urged Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger and what she called "Virginia's sanctuary politicians" not to release Chavarria Muy, tying the case to the governor’s executive order restricting state and local cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Federal officials are also linking the incident to another recent Virginia stabbing in which an undocumented Sierra Leone national was charged, using both cases to argue that "open‑border policies" and limits on ICE coordination are endangering residents and to intensify the political fight over sanctuary‑style policies in a key swing state.
📌 Key Facts
- Fairfax County Police arrested 38‑year‑old Anibal Armando Chavarria Muy and charged him with second‑degree murder after a fatal stabbing in a Fairfax County residence shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday.
- ICE says Chavarria Muy has no alien registration number, is believed to have entered the U.S. unlawfully as a "gotaway," and has lodged an immigration detainer with Fairfax County.
- DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis issued a statement urging Gov. Abigail Spanberger and local officials not to release the suspect, criticizing Virginia’s current limits on cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and linking the case to another recent killing allegedly involving an undocumented immigrant in the state.
📊 Relevant Data
The Hispanic population in Fairfax County, Virginia, increased from 15.6% in 2010 (approximately 162,000 individuals) to 16.8% in 2020 (approximately 191,000 individuals), representing a growth of about 18% over the decade, while the overall county population grew by 5.9%.
Fairfax County, VA population by year, race, & more — USAFacts
Increased Guatemalan migration to the US border is linked to agricultural stress, violence, and climate change, with subnational trends showing disproportionate family migration from departments facing these issues.
Increased Guatemalan migration to U.S. border linked to agricultural stress, violence and climate — Duke Center for International Development
In 2025, sanctuary jurisdictions across the US failed to honor ICE detainer notices more than 26,000 times, with nearly 1,700 ignored detainers in cases involving serious crimes.
Why Is Virginia Leadership Ignoring the Risks of Sanctuary Policies? — Center for Immigration Studies
The number of migrant encounters at the US southwest border was 117,105 from January to November 2025, a 37% decrease from the same period in 2024, though gotaways (undetected crossings) remain a component of overall illegal entries.
Border crossings once again at a record low in November 2025 — U.S. Customs and Border Protection
The U.S. Strategy for Addressing the Root Causes of Migration in Central America, initiated in 2021, focuses on socioeconomic, security, and governance improvements to reduce migration pressures, with over 3.8 million unauthorized Central American immigrants estimated in the US as of recent data.
Central American Immigrants in the United States — Migration Policy Institute
📰 Source Timeline (1)
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