Update March 4, 2026, 9:50 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional reporting about Gov. Spanberger’s response on DHS requests ; Originally published March 3, 2026 at 11:45 a.m.
A Virginia woman was brutally stabbed to death at a bus stop late last month by an illegal immigrant with a long rap sheet.
The Murder
As reported on Tuesday’s AM Update, authorities responded to a 911 call on February 23 about a woman found at a bus stop in Hybla Valley along Richmond Highway in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Fairfax County Police Captain Chris Cosgriff told the media detectives believe the victim, later identified as 41-year-old Stephanie Minter of Fredericksburg, arrived to the bus stop between 6pm and 7pm. Officers responded to a 911 call shortly after 7pm and discovered her inside of the bus stop “suffering from trauma to her upper body.” Cosgriff said the officers rendered aid, but Minter was pronounced deceased at the scene.
Minter was described in her obituary as “a beam of light in dark places,” who is survived by her mother, son, and a large extended family.
Investigators determined through interviews and surveillance video that 32-year-old Abdul Jalloh was the last person seen with Minter. The two exited the bus at the same time shortly before the attack. The following day, a liquor store employee called 911 to report Jalloh for shoplifting.
Authorities initially charged him with petit larceny, but detectives later connected Jalloh to Minter’s death and charged him with second-degree murder. Police say the suspect has no fixed address and is currently being held without bond. He is due in court May 13 and has not yet entered a plea.
Immigration Issues
According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Jalloh illegally entered the U.S. from Sierra Leone in 2012. “An immigration judge issued a final order of removal in 2020, determining he could be deported to any country but Sierra Leone,” Megyn noted, “raising the question: What on earth was this guy still doing here?”
The Center for Immigration Studies reported last year that Fairfax County is among the least cooperative jurisdictions when it comes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer requests, with the county declining to honor more than 1,150 requests over a two-and-a-half year period.
Since arriving in the United States, Jalloh racked up more than 30 arrests on charges including rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft, trespassing, larceny, and more. Fox 5 DC reported prosecutors dropped the charges in many of those cases.
DHS vs. Spanberger
DHS called on Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger to “commit to not releasing this murderer and violent career criminal from their jail without notifying ICE.” It is a standard process in which federal agents take custody from a jail, rather than allowing release back into the community after the criminal case concludes, but sanctuary jurisdictions like Fairfax County bar that kind of cooperation with the feds.
As reported on Wednesday’s AM Update, Spanberger will not comply with the request. Her office released a statement reading, in part: “Governor Spanberger firmly believes that violent criminals who are in the United States illegally should be deported by immigration enforcement. DHS should request a signed judicial warrant to ensure this violent criminal is deported.”
The Trump administration wasted no time criticizing the governor’s response. “Federal judicial warrants are for arresting and charging people to stand trial for specific federal crimes before a judge and jury. They have nothing to do with deportation,” Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller posted on X. “Thousands of criminals are removed every week through this system. In Sanctuary cities [and] states, criminal aliens are simply set free to maim and murder.”
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