WASHINGTON — Federal immigration officials have cast a watchful eye on Northern Virginia’s recent string of suspected MS-13 gang killings. Federal authorities have identified for possible deportation five men and a woman who have been charged in connection with two recent deaths in Fairfax and Prince William Counties.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged detainers on four adults charged in the January death in Fairfax County of Damaris Reyes Rivas, a 15-year-old resident of Gaithersburg, Maryland, according to Carissa Cutrell, a spokeswoman for ICE.
Detainers have been filed on Cindy Blanco Hernandez, 18; Wilmer A. Sanchez-Serrano, 21; Aldair J. Miranda Carcamo, 18; and Jose Castillo Rivas 18.
Castillo Rivas and Sanchez Serrano were charged with murder in connection to the teen girl’s death.
Six other juveniles have been charged in that case; two of them were charged with murder.
ICE also has filed detainers on two men charged with the January murder of Christian Sosa Rivas in Prince William County. The men — Edgar Oswaldo Torres, 24, and Jose Martir Larios Espenal, 20 — are being held by the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office in Pennsylvania.
Detainers are used by federal authorities to identify those in custody who may be subject to removal from the United States.
ICE says the individuals with detainers were arrested in cases tied to the street gang MS-13.
Fairfax County police do not identify gangs by name, but say that gangs are operating throughout Northern Virginia.
