EXCLUSIVE TO FOX: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has apprehended an alleged MS-13 gang member and suspected mass murderer in Virginia, according to sources within the Department of Homeland Security who spoke with Fox News Digital.
The arrest of Edwin Antonio Hernandez Hernandez, a 27-year-old from El Salvador, follows a significant policy shift by newly inaugurated Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger. She recently signed an executive order that removes the obligation for local and state law enforcement to cooperate with ICE, reversing a directive from former Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.
Fox News Digital sources report that Hernandez has confessed to being involved in five murders in El Salvador and is affiliated with the MS-13 gang. He is known by the nicknames “Demente” and “Crazy.”
Hernandez is accused of fatally shooting two members of the rival 18th Street gang, also known as Barrio 18, in the chest and head. This gang has been labeled a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) by the U.S. State Department in recent years.
ICE detained Edwin Antonio Hernandez Hernandez in Alexandria, Virginia, as confirmed by DHS sources to Fox News Digital. (GettyUSCIS)
In another gruesome incident, Hernandez admitted that MS-13 abducted a member of the 18th Street gang and inflicted torture, including stabbing him twice in the chest, before proceeding to dismember him alive, according to the sources.
A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) report obtained by Fox News Digital said Hernandez entered the U.S. illegally near Hidalgo, Texas, in June 2015.
He was then arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol, the report said, before being released from custody during immigration court proceedings.
Abigail Spanberger is sworn in as Virginia’s first woman and the 75th Governor of Virginia on Jan. 17, 2026, in Richmond, Va. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Hernandez eventually was brought back into custody by ICE on Dec. 31 in Alexandria, Va., for remaining in the U.S. without a proper visa and illegal entry, according to the report.
DHS sources told Fox News Digital he was arrested after USCIS referred him to ICE.
On her first day in office, Spanberger, a Democrat, signed an executive order that “rescinded Executive Order 47, which requires and encourages state and local law enforcement to divert their limited resources for use in enforcing federal civil immigration laws.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, along with other federal law enforcement agencies, attend a pre-enforcement meeting in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 26, 2025. (Getty Images)
“Ensuring public safety in Virginia requires state and local law enforcement to be focused on their core responsibilities of investigating and deterring criminal activity, staffing jails, and community engagement,” her office said at the time.
