A twice-deported illegal immigrant from El Salvador, Juan Arevalo Mendez, 46, has been charged with rape and abduction related to an alleged attack in Fairfax County, Virginia, in September 2025. Mendez was arrested on June 30 in Prince William County on charges of rape and abduction with intent to sexually assault, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged a detainer the same day, urging Fairfax County officials not to release Mendez from custody and to transfer him into federal custody.

Fairfax County Police reported that officers responded on September 19, 2025, after a woman reported she had been sexually assaulted about two weeks earlier in the 3800 block of South George Mason Drive in Bailey's Crossroads.

Mendez was deported in 2003, later convicted of illegally reentering the U.S., deported again in 2014, and subsequently reentered the country illegally at an unknown date and location, DHS said. His criminal history dates back to 1998 and includes convictions for assault, aggravated assault (with and without a weapon), drug possession, destruction of property, illegal reentry, obstructing justice, and making a false report.

DHS also cited other recent ICE detainers against individuals charged with serious crimes in Northern Virginia, including Moises Domingo Rico Rosales, a Nicaraguan national charged with abduction with intent to defile and indecent exposure in Annandale; Jose Nahun Aleman Hernandez, a Mexican national charged with molesting a 5-year-old girl in Woodbridge; and Cristian Wilfredo Alvarenga Aguilar, facing charges including carjacking, abduction, assault, and robbery in Herndon.

A spokesperson for the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office told Fox News Digital that prosecutors previously dropped a January case involving Mendez because "there was no path forward to continue with prosecution." Additionally, Mendez "was not identified as the suspect in the September incident," according to the office.

Sources: Fox News Latest

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