DHS provides immigration detainer files for teens shot on Virginia I-295

Exclusive: Hours after Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates, Republican Winsome Earl Sears and Democrat Abigail Spanberger, sparred over illegal immigration concerns in Virginia, the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital that it had provided detainers for the deportation of two teenage “thugs” who allegedly had not been vetted by the Biden administration, accused of shooting on a busy highway in Suburbs.

Earl Sears — a legal immigrant from Jamaica — claimed that Spanberger would make Virginia a “sanctuary state,” while the Democrat refuted that assertion, saying she would “absolutely” cooperate with the feds during official criminal investigations into illegal immigrants.

Two “criminal illegal alien thugs roamed around” Interstate 295 near the Chickahominy River bridges east of Richmond, Virginia, “with complete disregard for the safety of Virginians” as they allegedly opened fire on the normally busy bypass in the capital of Old Dominion.

McLaughlin said the two men were released allegedly “not screened” under the Biden administration’s lenient immigration policies, and that ICE filed a request for detention after state authorities arrested them and sent them to a juvenile prison in Williamsburg, Virginia.

EARLE-SEARS comes out swinging in a heated discussion while Spanberger dodges questions from Jay Jones

“We will not allow criminal illegal aliens to terrorize American citizens,” McLaughlin said.

The 17-year-old undocumented immigrants from Honduras allegedly got into a BMW and sped northbound on I-295 and caught the attention of a Hanover County, Virginia, sheriff’s deputy who stopped another motorist several miles southwest of Old Church, Virginia.

The deputy noticed the BMW matched the description advertised over the radio, and the teens immediately led the officer on a chase, DHS said.

WINSOME EARLE-SEARS rebukes Spanberger’s plan to roll back Virginia’s ice charter: ‘It’s not hard’

The teens eventually exited the interstate and crashed on a side street off the Mechanicsville Turnpike, according to the Department of Homeland Security, which could have taken them to downtown Richmond, Virginia.

The illegal immigrants were arrested and charged with drive-by shooting, possession of a firearm under the age of 18, possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, and reckless handling of a firearm, according to a DHS statement.

A Virginia State Police official told CBS affiliate Richmond that the quick arrest of the suspects was a testament to interdepartmental cooperation between the Virginia State Police and local Henrico and Hanover authorities.

Click here to download the FOX NEWS app

Interstate 295 is a heavily trafficked alternative to Interstate 95, which passes through Richmond, Colonial Heights, and Petersburg, Virginia, while traffic heading to North Carolina or Washington, D.C. tends to use the high-speed alternative.