An illegal immigrant was arrested this week for allegedly attempting to rape a woman in Arlington, Virginia, a sanctuary jurisdiction, after the county’s George Soros-backed chief prosecutor dropped charges in several past cases against the serial offender.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti is now facing questions from critics over why the suspect, a Guatemalan national with a lengthy criminal history, was able to return repeatedly to the streets of Arlington, a northern Virginia suburb near Washington, D.C.
Arlington County officials, however, told the Washington Examiner that the dropped charges, stretching back to 2020, were complicated by procedural hurdles, victim considerations, and other behind-the-scenes developments in the prosecutorial process.
Career criminal illegally living in Arlington allegedly attacked woman
Luzvin Orvando Garcia Moran, a 28-year-old illegal immigrant from Guatemala, is accused of trying to sexually assault a female victim in a violent attack on Sunday.
According to an Arlington County Police Department press release, Garcia Moran followed the woman around 5:40 a.m. that morning, making sexually explicit comments as he stalked her, before grabbing the victim and shoving her against a wall.
Though the woman was able to break free, Garcia Moran allegedly chased after her. The victim shouted for help, and two good Samaritans came to her rescue. ACPD says Garcia Moran fled the scene on foot but that responding officers quickly found him.
Virginia court records show that Garcia Moran has faced more than 30 prior charges in Arlington County, including multiple counts of assault and battery over the years, destruction of property, public intoxication, falsely identifying himself to police, failure to appear in court, and a slew of probation violations.
In those previous incidents, charges were either not pursued by the Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, or were dismissed during the criminal proceedings in a handful of cases involving assault, disorderly conduct, drug possession, and possession of a fictitious identification card.
In 2020, for instance, the assault and battery charges filed against Garcia Moran were dropped, and he was only found guilty of property destruction. Garcia Moran was sentenced to 179 days in county jail, all of which were suspended.
In 2024, Garcia Moran was found guilty of two counts of disorderly conduct and again given 179 days for each count to run concurrently. The court denied restitution despite the prosecution’s requests and ordered Garcia Moran to be of general good behavior and to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Garcia Moran was convicted of assault and battery for a March 2025 incident and given a 12-month sentence, with 10 months suspended by the county’s General District Court. Garcia Moran appealed the conviction to the Arlington Circuit Court, and the case resulted in a dismissal.
Most recently, Garcia Moran was found guilty of assault and battery in Arlington Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court for another attack just two months later in May 2025.
Prosecutors asked for the statutory maximum that the court could give, which was one year of incarceration and a protective order. A judge instead imposed five months in jail, along with the order of protection. Garcia Moran again appealed, and prosecutors abandoned the assault charge when the case reached the circuit court.
However, in that same May 2025 assault case, Garcia Moran pled guilty to attempting to disarm a law enforcement officer, a Class 6 felony. The circuit court handed down a five-year prison sentence on Feb. 13, 2026 but suspended four years and three months of it, followed by two years of supervised probation. Garcia Moran was required to complete a victim impact program as well as refrain from using drugs and alcohol as part of mandatory substance abuse treatment.
Garcia Moran was out on probation for the May 2025 assault at the time he allegedly tried to rape the woman this week.
Victims were afraid of testifying for fear of ICE appearing at the Arlington courthouse
Prosecutors said they had their hands tied by the lack of victims willing to testify against Garcia Moran, due to fears of immigration action at the Arlington courthouse or preference for an alternative resolution to the criminal proceedings.
Officials could not previously prosecute Garcia Moran for assault and battery due to uncooperative witnesses who feared coming to court, citing the presence of immigration enforcement agents lurking around Virginia courthouses.
Under the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are authorized to make targeted arrests at courthouses when they believe that an illegal immigrant will appear for a hearing, regardless of the case’s circumstances.
A victim of sex trafficking in the area who was going to cooperate with local law enforcement to help take down the larger trafficking ring had just been picked up by ICE , county officials told the Washington Examiner.
That victim is likely to be trafficked again, the county officials said, and the human traffickers who trafficked her will not be held to account. In another Arlington County case, a child rapist self-deported and thus escaped prosecution.
Dehghani-Tafti, the county’s top prosecutor, emphasized the importance of holding illegal immigrants guilty of crimes accountable before deportation.
Speaking to the Washington Examiner, she said, “I think it’s really important to not deport people before we’ve had a chance to hold them accountable.”
“We need to protect the cases,” Dehghani-Tafti continued. “I don’t have a problem with somebody being deported if they’re convicted, but I do have a problem with deporting people before we’ve held them accountable. And I do have a problem with creating a situation where we’re unable to protect victims.”
As for some of Garcia Moran’s other dismissed cases, out of respect for the victims, Arlington County prosecutors said they did not want to force them into a trial.
Assault victims in Virginia may seek a civil resolution to their criminal case through accord and satisfaction, an agreement for an amount owed in damages, such as money to cover the cost of medical bills or property repairs. Upon compensation, the case is then dismissed in exchange at the court’s discretion.
In these cases resolved by accord and satisfaction, if the prosecution were to object and go against the victim’s wishes, the government would not have a cooperating witness.
Arlington County’s sanctuary policies under scrutiny
Garcia Moran is being held without bond at the Arlington County Jail, booked on charges of attempted sodomy by force or victim helplessness, abduction of a person with the intent to defile, and assault and battery.
ICE announced it is seeking to deport Garcia Moran and called on Arlington County leadership not to release the suspected sexual predator from pretrial detention.
“Virginia’s sanctuary policies allowed this illegal alien to go on a crime spree,” Acting Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Lauren Bis said in a press statement. “Despite prior arrests by law enforcement, this criminal was released from jail multiple times before he went on to commit this attempted heinous rape.”
Arlington County does not detain criminally charged immigrants, suspected of being in the country illegally, past their scheduled release date based solely on a detention request lodged by ICE. County officials will only facilitate in-facility transfers if ICE can secure a judicially signed warrant, which is not always practical given that immigration courts and federal judicial courts are separate.
Dehghani-Tafti, herself an Iranian immigrant, has opposed ICE apprehending illegal immigrants accused, but not yet convicted, of certain less serious crimes, such as low-level theft.
Raising due process concerns, Dehghani-Tafti argued that the presumption of innocence is still attached at this point and rounding up immigrants, especially while they are in public going about their daily business, would foster distrust between immigrant communities and public safety officials.
Last year, at a Know Your Rights legal assistance event in Arlington that advised immigrant families on what to do if they encounter an ICE agent, Dehghani-Tafti said, “We want you to know that we are here to keep you safe, and no one’s going to get deported until they get a conviction.”
Dehghani-Taft added, “I want to make sure that you trust us, so that if you’re a victim of a crime, you call the police.”
“If they get convicted, that’s a different story,” she said through an interpreter.
Dehghani-Tafti has received significant campaign funding from political action committees bankrolled by Democratic mega donor George Soros. These groups, including the left-of-center Justice & Public Safety PAC, are closely aligned with her “restorative justice” platform aimed at reforming the criminal justice system.
The recent attempted rape case in Arlington County marks one of the latest violent crimes involving illegal immigrant suspects to arise out of northern Virginia.
In neighboring Fairfax County, also a sanctuary suburb with lenient immigration policies, an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone allegedly stabbed an innocent woman to death in February while she was waiting at a bus stop shelter.
HOW FAIRFAX COUNTY’S SANCTUARY POLICIES LED TO AN ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT MURDERING AN INNOCENT WOMAN
Murder suspect Abdul Jalloh, like Garcia Moran, had numerous past encounters with nearby police.
In accordance with the county’s noncooperation policy, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office, which oversees the county’s jail, did not honor a 2023 federal detention request to hold Jalloh in pretrial detention until ICE could assume custody.
Jalloh went on to commit more crimes, including stabbings in Fairfax County. Prosecutors similarly struggled to get criminal charges to stick against Jalloh because the homeless people he attacked tended not to show up to court.
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, another Soros-funded prosecutor, had a declaration on his campaign website indicating he is soft on crime committed by illegal immigrants.
“Steve’s office will take immigration consequences into account when making charging and plea decisions,” Descano’s since-deleted campaign page said. “Although prosecutors typically refer to immigration consequences as ‘collateral consequences,’ avoiding the unnecessary destruction of families and communities will be a top priority for Steve as Commonwealth’s Attorney. Wherever possible, Steve will make charging and plea decisions that limit or avoid immigration consequences.”