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EXCLUSIVE: Hours after Virginia gubernatorial candidates Republican Winsome Earle-Sears and Democrat Abigail Spanberger sparred over illegal immigration concerns in Virginia, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital it filed detainers to deport two teen “thugs,” allegedly unscreened by the Biden administration, accused of firing guns on a busy suburban interstate.
Earle-Sears — a legal immigrant from Jamaica — claimed Spanberger will make Virginia a “sanctuary state,” while the Democrat rebutted that assertion, saying she would “absolutely” cooperate with the feds during official criminal investigations involving illegal immigrants.
Two “criminal illegal alien thugs whipped around” Interstate 295 near the Chickahominy River bridges east of Richmond, Virginia, “with complete neglect for the safety of Virginians” while allegedly firing weapons on the typically busy bypass of the Old Dominion’s capital, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital Friday.
McLaughlin said the two males were released allegedly “unvetted” under the Biden administration’s lax immigration policies, and that ICE lodged a detainer request after state authorities captured them and sent them to a juvenile prison in Williamsburg, Virginia.
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Interstate 95 meets Interstate 295 — the route around Richmond–Petersburg — at a major interchange near Glen Allen, Virginia. (Charlie Creitz/Fox News Digital)
“We are not going to allow criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens,” McLaughlin said.
The two 17-year-old illegal immigrants from Honduras had allegedly acquired a BMW and sped northbound on I-295 and caught the attention of a Hanover County, Virginia, sheriff deputy who had pulled over another motorist several miles southwest of Old Church, Virginia.
DHS said the deputy noticed the BMW matching the description of one announced over the radio, and the teens immediately led the officer on a pursuit.
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The teens eventually exited the highway and crashed on a side street off Mechanicsville Turnpike, according to DHS, which otherwise could have taken them into downtown Richmond, Virginia.
The illegal immigrants were arrested and charged with shooting from a vehicle, possession of a firearm under age 18, possession of a firearm by an illegal alien and reckless handling of a firearm, according to a DHS statement.
A Virginia State Police official told Richmond’s CBS affiliate that the swift apprehension of the suspects was a testament to interdepartmental cooperation between Virginia State Police, and local Henrico and Hanover authorities.
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Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, a Republican, left, is running against Democrat Abigail Spanberger, right, in the state’s governor’s race in 2025. (Kristen Zeis/The Washington Post via Getty Images; Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Interstate 295 is a heavily trafficked alternative to Interstate 95, which proceeds through Richmond, Colonial Heights and Petersburg, Virginia, while traffic bound for North Carolina or Washington, D.C., tends to use the higher-speed alternative.
