If you’ve been following the case of 41-year-old Virginia mother Stephanie Minter’s horrific murder in Fairfax County, you’re almost certainly horrified, saddened and angered by everything about it. That includes the fact that the murderer, Abdul Jalloh, was “a Sierra Leone national [who] entered the United States illegally in 2012 and was in the country without lawful status”; also that this guy “had been arrested more than 30 times,” plus the fact that ICE had “lodged a detainer on Feb. 25 and that he received a final order of removal in 2020.” So obviously, something broke down disastrously – and tragically – in this case, and we really need to understand what happened, exactly, so something like this never happens again!
So on this subject, yesterday, VA State Sen. Scott Surovell (D) – who represents the part of Fairfax where Stephanie Minter was murdered – spoke on the State Senate floor. See below for video, as well as a transcript of what he had to say, which I think is well worth sharing. In short, Sen. Surovell said that:
- “…there’s fingerpointing going on with regard to Ms Mintor’s murder, which has greatly upset my district. But from my perspective, the finger is not pointed in the right place.”
- “…what I’m so disturbed about about all the fingerpointing I hear going on here is ICE had this guy in their grasp. They knew he was a violent criminal. They released him. They were not they they had the opportunity. They were notified electronically repeatedly that he was being arrested repeatedly and they elected not to do anything about it. Why was that? Maybe it’s because they’re busy shooting poets. Maybe it’s because they were busy shooting nurses. Maybe it’s because they’re busy with their surge in Minnesota or Memphis or all the other places instead of doing what the president promised he was going to do when he ran for office, which was to capture and deport violent undocumented immigrants, which apparently is not what they have an interest in doing because 75% of the people who have been picked up don’t have any criminal history. And from my perspective, my district’s perspective, there’s a dead person in my district because ICE seems focused on doing things other than what the president promised and what they should be doing, which is focus on keeping us safe.
So yesterday we heard some dialogue on the floor about Stephanie Mintor, and I heard there was some other conversation about her over across the courthouse square earlier today. And I just wanted to relate a few things about that.
First of all, Stephanie Mintor, who was murdered a couple weeks ago, was murdered in the 34th Senate District, which I represent, where I’ve lived my entire life. And her murder was extraordinarily disturbing for a lot of reasons. Apparently she was just riding the bus home. Got off the bus, got followed off the bus by this Abdul Jalloh who was not I’m told from what I read not legally present in the United States. Had a lengthy criminal history and was murdered, stabbed multiple times. I’ve read other things, heard other things today about how the police department had him on their radar and they were concerned about him. But what what bothers me about the dialogue I’ve heard so far, Madam President, is there’s fingerpointing going on with regard to Ms Mintor’s murder, which has greatly upset my district. But from my perspective, the finger is not pointed in the right place.
And I want to note that Mr. Jalloh – I don’t even want to call him Mister – he was arrested at one point in 2018 and incarcerated in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. And upon release from the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, he was picked up by ICE. ICE picked him up from jail upon his release and they took him away. And if I’m not mistaken, in 2018, the president at the time was somebody named Donald Trump. Somehow, Mr. Jalloh left the grasp of ICE and we don’t know how. After that, he was arrested multiple times. Between 2018 and 2023, he was arrested three times. Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office said even though they input his arrest in VSIN and that ICE has access to that and ICE is notified about it, ICE did not bother to lodge a detainer Then he was arrested again in 2023. ICE did make an informal request – an informal request, not a judicial warrant. This guy was released to Cornerstone, which is a mental health treatment program. ICE didn’t bother to reach out to Cornerstone, I guess, and didn’t bother to pick him up there and he was released. He got arrested eight more times. ICE didn’t issue any detainers. ICE didn’t ask for him to be arrested, even though they were notified about his arrest. The president at the time for those arrests was Donald Trump.
And so, Madame President, what I’m so disturbed about about all the fingerpointing I hear going on here is ICE had this guy in their grasp. They knew he was a violent criminal. They released him. They were not they they had the opportunity. They were notified electronically repeatedly that he was being arrested repeatedly and they elected not to do anything about it. Why was that? Maybe it’s because they’re busy shooting poets. Maybe it’s because they were busy shooting nurses. Maybe it’s because they’re busy with their surge in Minnesota or Memphis or all the other places instead of doing what the president promised he was going to do when he ran for office, which was to capture and deport violent undocumented immigrants, which apparently is not what they have an interest in doing because 75% of the people who have been picked up don’t have any criminal history. And from my perspective, my district’s perspective, there’s a dead person in my district because ICE seems focused on doing things other than what the president promised and what they should be doing, which is focus on keeping us safe. And Madam President, that’s what bothers me about the conversation I’ve heard for the last 48 hours. And the people in my district want to be safe and they want ICE to focus on the right people and not focus on people that are just out trying to live their lives.”
