A deadly double stabbing in Virginia is renewing debate over the commonwealth's immigration enforcement policies.
A deadly double stabbing in Virginia is renewing debate over the commonwealth's immigration enforcement policies after federal authorities lodged an immigration detainer against a Mexican national charged with killing one woman and seriously injuring another.
Freddi Chigo Mil, 32, was arrested after Staunton police responded to an open-line 911 call shortly before 4 a.m. Aug. 30 in the 300 block of Orchard Avenue.
Officers arriving at the scene found two women suffering from stab wounds. One was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other was transported to the University of Virginia Medical Center in stable condition.
Police arrested Mil at the scene and charged him with second-degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding.
The Department of Homeland Security says Mil is a Mexican national who entered the United States illegally at an unknown date and location. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer with the Middle River Regional Jail on the same day he was arrested.
Mil remains incarcerated without bond as the criminal case proceeds. An ICE detainer asks the jail to notify federal immigration authorities before an individual is released and to facilitate a transfer to federal custody when applicable.
The case has become the latest flashpoint in a broader political battle between the Trump administration and Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger over how state and local law enforcement should cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin directly blamed policies implemented under Spanberger for creating public safety risks.
"This illegal alien from Mexico has been charged with murder after a stabbing spree that killed one woman and injured another," Mullin said.
"This is what the Commonwealth of Virginia has become under the sanctuary policies of Governor Abigail Spanberger and her fellow sanctuary politicians," he added.
The administration's characterization of Virginia as a "sanctuary" state and its claim that Spanberger's policies contributed to such crimes are disputed political arguments, not findings in the criminal case.
Randy Sutton, founder and chairman of The Wounded Blue and a retired Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department lieutenant, joined The National News Desk to discuss the case and the larger debate over immigration detainers.
Sutton sharply criticized Spanberger's approach to federal immigration enforcement.
"It is absolutely irrational for the governor to take this position," Sutton said.
Spanberger has taken several actions since entering office that changed Virginia's relationship with ICE.
On her first day as governor, Spanberger rescinded former Gov. Glenn Youngkin's Executive Order 47, which had directed state law enforcement agencies to enter into agreements allowing officers to perform certain federal immigration enforcement duties.
In February, Spanberger directed Virginia State Police, the Department of Corrections, Conservation Police and Marine Police to terminate their existing Section 287(g) agreements with ICE.
Those agreements allowed designated Virginia officers to perform certain immigration enforcement functions under ICE supervision.
Spanberger has argued that Virginia law enforcement officers should concentrate on enforcing state law, investigating criminal activity and protecting public safety rather than performing federal civil immigration enforcement.
"Virginia law enforcement efforts focus on upholding the rule of law, investigating and stopping criminal conduct, and protecting public safety, not the administrative enforcement of civil status," Spanberger's February executive order states.
Her administration has also maintained that ending the 287(g) agreements does not prohibit all cooperation with federal authorities.
In April, Spanberger proposed amendments clarifying that the Virginia Department of Corrections, local sheriffs and jails can honor ICE detainers and transfer custody of people convicted of felonies. Her administration also said Virginia officers can participate in joint federal-state criminal law enforcement task forces and cooperate under valid judicial orders.
Sutton nevertheless argued that reducing cooperation with ICE can make immigration arrests more dangerous by requiring federal agents to locate people after they have returned to the community.
"The reason that ICE puts detainers on people and what a detainer is, it's asking the correctional facility not to release the inmate who is there in jail until they can come and do their work," Sutton said.
"If the state does not accept that and they release the individual back into the public, that means that ICE or other authorities have to now go back into the public and try and take these people into custody," he added.
Sutton said making an arrest inside a jail provides officers with a more controlled environment than attempting to apprehend someone at a residence, during a traffic stop or elsewhere in the community.
"That is incredibly dangerous," Sutton said. "This is what has led to shootings. This is what has led to violent encounters, because now they're not in a controlled situation."
"They are now back into the community where they can reoffend and also create havoc when it comes down to the enforcement activities of ICE and other law enforcement agencies," Sutton added.
The Trump administration has made a similar argument in its criticism of jurisdictions that decline some ICE detainer requests, saying agents must instead conduct enforcement operations in communities.
Supporters of restrictions on local participation in federal immigration enforcement counter that local police departments should concentrate their resources on criminal law, that immigration enforcement is primarily a federal responsibility and that separating the two can help maintain trust between immigrant communities and local police.
Spanberger has said cooperation between different levels of law enforcement remains important but has drawn a distinction between criminal enforcement and federal civil immigration enforcement.
"Collaborative partnerships among local, state, federal, and tribal law enforcement" are essential for safe communities, her February executive order states.
In May, Spanberger went further by issuing an executive order restricting the use of state property as a staging area, processing site or operational base for federal civil immigration enforcement. Her administration said the measures were designed to preserve public trust and establish clear rules governing interactions with federal immigration officers.
Sutton said his primary concern is the safety of officers tasked with apprehending potentially dangerous suspects.
"If you release these inmates into the population, then you have to have law enforcement go out and search for them," Sutton said. "That means they're making car stops or making entries into homes with warrants."
"It is incredibly more dangerous than if they were in a controlled facility, like the jail where they are being held," he added.
Sutton also pointed to the broader number of assaults against police officers nationwide.
The FBI maintains its Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted program to track assaults, injuries and deaths involving officers. The agency's preliminary 2025 crime data were based on reports from more than 17,000 law enforcement agencies covering approximately 96% of the U.S. population.
Sutton, whose organization assists injured and disabled law enforcement officers, said the human consequences of violent encounters are often overlooked.
"Just yesterday, I was with an officer who had been shot in the face with a shotgun and lost his eyes because of the attacks on our law enforcement," Sutton said.
The Wounded Blue describes itself as a national organization providing support and resources to injured and disabled law enforcement officers.
Sutton said he recently attended the organization's National Law Enforcement Survival Summit in Las Vegas, where he met with officers who had suffered serious injuries in the line of duty.
"I was with more than 20 officers who have been shot within the last few years," Sutton said. "To hear what they have gone through, both physically, emotionally, psychologically, is heartbreaking."
He argued that immigration policy decisions should take the risks faced by officers into account.
"It makes no sense," Sutton said. "All it shows is that they care more about their political futures and their politics than they do about the lives of the men and women of law enforcement."
That allegation represents Sutton's assessment of Spanberger's motives. The governor has repeatedly said her policies are intended to improve officer safety and public trust, and her administration says Virginia continues to cooperate with federal law enforcement in criminal investigations and under specified legal circumstances.
The Staunton case remains pending, and Mil has not been convicted of the charges against him.
For now, he remains behind bars without bond while facing the state criminal case. ICE's detainer seeks to ensure federal immigration authorities are notified and can assume custody if he later becomes eligible for release.
