On Dec. 17, Marvin Fernando Morales-Ortez, 23, allegedly shot and killed a man in Reston, Virginia. Only the day before, Fairfax County officials ignored an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer request and released him from jail.
According to case documents from the Fairfax County General District Court, police had arrested Morales-Ortez on Sept. 14 for a misdemeanor firearms charge and a felony malicious assault charge. Morales-Ortez, an illegal alien from El Salvador, is allegedly an MS-13 gang member and has a remarkably long criminal rap sheet.
Fairfax County Police reportedly obtained an emergency custody order for Morales-Ortez after his release from jail on Dec. 16 due to mental health and danger concerns. They were unable to locate him at that time. He is accused of murdering the man in Reston mere hours later.
And this isn’t even the first time Morales-Ortez will face a murder charge in court. Police arrested him in connection with the 2019 murder of Jose Lorenzo Guillen Mejia, also in Reston. While a transcript of his preliminary hearing in 2021 reveals that Morales-Ortez confessed to being present during the murder, and that he struck Meija three times with a machete, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Steve Descano, dropped the charges against him.
With regard to the latest murder in Reston, Pat Herrity, the sole Republican on Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors, argues that Descano shares responsibility. In an email, he told IW Features, “Another murder committed by someone that should have been behind bars. This is not a failure of our police department, who have apprehended him numerous times for numerous violent offenses; this is a failure of the justice system under Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano that continues to release violent offenders back into our community.”
Similarly, Sean Kennedy, president of Virginians for Safe Communities and a member of the Fairfax County Criminal Justice Advisory Board, told IW Features, “While the latest murder was committed by the hand of a violent illegal alien gang member, it was abetted by the gross negligence and hubristic indifference to public safety of Fairfax County’s leadership, especially the Soros-backed prosecutor Steve Descano.”
Since 2019, Descano’s office has dropped several additional charges against Morales-Ortez. These include a robbery and concealed weapon charge in 2019, an assault charge in 2023, and a malicious wounding charge in 2025.
Kennedy continued, “Descano, yet again, has blood on his hands, and in a just world, would be charged as an accessory to this murder—having time and time again freed this killer through utter incompetence and deluded ideology.”
IW Features reached out to Descano for comment regarding Morales-Ortez’s rap sheet and his most recent charges, but he did not respond.
In addition to Fairfax County’s notoriously soft-on-crime, George Soros-funded commonwealth’s attorney, the area’s sanctuary policy helps dangerous repeat offenders who are in the country illegally, such as Morales-Ortez, return to the streets again and again. In 2021, Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors passed its sanctuary policy, titled the “Public Trust and Confidentiality Policy,” also called “The Trust Policy,” which IW Features previously reported has increased crime, strained public schools, and burdened taxpayers.
In his statement, Herrity told IW Features that crime “is made worse by the Board’s Trust Policy, [which] prevents sharing information on immigration status” with federal immigration enforcement. Herrity continued, “I voted against the Board’s Trust Policy because it hinders the County’s ability to protect our immigrant residents that are often preyed upon by repeat violent offenders that are in the country illegally.”
IW Features also requested comment regarding Morales-Ortez and the Trust Policy from Walter Alcorn, a Democrat who voted in favor of the Trust Policy and has represented Reston on Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors since 2020. As of publication, he has not responded.
Even before the inception of the Trust Policy, Fairfax County’s sheriff, Stacey Kincaid—a Democrat who was first elected in 2013—sent a notice of intent to terminate the county’s Intergovernmental Service Agreement with ICE. In a letter dated Jan. 22, 2018, Kincaid wrote, “After the date of termination, May 23, 2018, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office will not honor any requests to detain individuals subject to an administrative detention request…”
IW Features contacted Kincaid regarding the decision to release Morales-Ortez from jail on Dec. 16, and her 2018 notice of intent to terminate the county’s Intergovernmental Service Agreement with ICE. As of publication, she has not responded.
According to sources, Virginia’s Gov.-elect, Abigail Spanberger, is considering Kincaid for a top Virginia State Police position, making many Virginians wonder if Fairfax County’s detached and irresponsible approach to violent crime is about to spread to the rest of the state.
In response to Fairfax County’s leaders’ decision to ignore the detainer for Morales-Ortez, ICE said in its statement, “Fairfax County FAILED the victim by refusing to work with ICE and releasing this criminal alien onto Virginia streets instead of safely into ICE custody. If Fairfax County would have simply worked to uphold our nation’s laws, then this tragedy may have never happened.”
Ironically, the Department of Justice doesn’t currently list Fairfax County as a sanctuary jurisdiction, despite the fact that a Center for Immigration Studies report found that Fairfax County was among the top three jails nationwide for declined detainers, releasing more than 1,150 “criminal aliens” during the review period from October 2022 to February 2025.
And now, on the heels of another murder, Fairfax County’s residents are left asking how many crimes an illegal alien has to commit, or how many people he is allowed to kill, before Democrat local leaders decide that even if they want him in our country, he at least shouldn’t be roaming freely through our neighborhoods.
