Two correctional officers injured following a brutal and premeditated stabbing by MS-13 gang members at a Virginia prison last week have been discharged from the hospital.
The stabbing took place on May 2 at 9:45 a.m. and injured five officers at Wallens Ridge State Prison located in Big Stone Gap in Southwest Virginia. Three officers were stabbed, according to officials, and two others sustained minor injuries. Three officers were released on Friday after treatment; the other two remained for treatment and were listed in stable condition.
Five of the six inmates involved in the attack are allegedly MS-13 gang members from El Salvador, according to the Virginia Department of Corrections. The inmates who led the attack were reported to have been convicted of crimes including aggravated murder, first- and second-degree murder and rape.
The other inmate involved is linked to the Sureño 13 gang, according to VADOC, and is serving a sentence for second-degree murder.
“Our entire agency is relieved that all five officers involved in this heinous attack have now been discharged. They have constantly been in our prayers and are at the forefront of our thoughts,” said Chad Dotson, VADOC director. “We wish them nothing but the best in their recovery and will continue to stand by them and the rest of our Wallens Ridge family.”
The six inmates involved in the attack have been transferred to another VADOC facility.
The attack remains under investigation.
Trump, El Salvador and the CECOT mega prison
Of course, as soon as the news broke about the prison stabbing, Fox News didn’t waste any time politicizing the incident as grounds for the president’s unlawful deportations of men supposedly part of the Tren de Aragua gang..
Fox News pounced on the idea that the men involved were allegedly in the U.S. illegally calling them “MS-13 gangbanger illegal aliens” in its headline.
“Five of the individuals responsible for this senseless attack should never have been in this country in the first place,” Dotson said after the attack, likely to appease Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Donald Trump, and reinforce the largely-criticized actions of the administration.
The U.S. has increased actions targeting alleged gang members under Trump, with a particular focus on the Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua, sending more than 200 men to a CECOT mega prison in El Salvador without the due process they are entitled to by the U.S. Constitution.
Families of the men deported have said they were unfairly targeted because of tattoos that are popular in Venezuela and unrelated to gang activity.
A New York Times investigation found that most of the men rounded up and deported to El Salvador do not have criminal records in the U.S.
The White House has admitted it made a mistake sending one man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to El Salvador, but claim they can’t do anything to return him, despite a U.S. Supreme Court order asking the administration to facilitate his return.
The CECOT prison is notorious for human rights abuses, and it is unknown how long the men deported there will be held.
Trump designated the Tren de Aragua gang a terrorist organization in a proclamation on March 15.
Related stories
- Three Southwest Virginia corrections officers stabbed by MS-13 gang members
- Senate Democrats fire off angry letter to Trump on El Salvador deportations
- Virginia Democrats eerily silent on Trump El Salvadoran prison plan
- Plain clothes, masks, unmarked vehicles: ICE agents target immigrants in Virginia
- Tim Kaine and Mark Warner need to be more like Chris Van Hollen
- Kaine, Warner lead push to get Trump administration to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia
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Crystal Graham
