The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia ignored at least 1,670 immigration detainers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement between 2023 and 2025, releasing criminal illegal immigrants back into the community instead of transferring them to federal custody, according to a new House Judiciary Committee report. The interim staff report – obtained by Fox News before its noon Tuesday release by the committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement – also accuses Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano of treating illegal immigrant defendants differently from similarly situated American citizens to limit their immigration consequences.
"This interim report provides evidence of the ways in which just one local jurisdiction has implemented policies that allow dangerous foreign nationals to reoffend and avoid deportation," the report, issued under House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Chair Tom McClintock, R-Calif., concluded. SANCTUARY COUNTY REFUSED 615 ICE TRANSFER REQUESTS, TURNED OVER JUST 11 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, RECORDS SHOW "But Fairfax County and prosecutor Steve Descano are not outliers. They are indicative of a modern, radical, socialist Democrat Party that seeks to erase national borders and place illegal alien criminals ahead of law-abiding American citizens," the report added.
"The policies supported by these Democrats, including sanctuary policies, will have negative and lasting consequences for Americans. The Committee and Subcommittee will continue to conduct oversight of these sanctuary policies to inform potential legislative reforms to better protect American communities." SOROS-BACKED DA ACCUSED OF GOING EASY ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS GETS SQUEEZED BY HOUSE GOP The committee said a preliminary review of more than 1,100 criminal cases identified more than 100 previously unreported illegal immigrants who benefited from Descano’s prosecutorial decisions. The report said Descano’s office rarely pursued charges against illegal immigrants accused of crimes including driving under the influence, felony drug possession, felony grand larceny, shoplifting, fraud, trespassing, destruction of property and assaulting a law enforcement officer.
The committee accused Descano’s office of "de facto" decriminalizing some offenses and said most of the defendants reviewed went on to reoffend, in some cases escalating to violent crimes and murder. JIM JORDAN SUBPOENAS BLUE STATE DAS ACCUSED OF 'PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT' FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CRIMINALS The report, titled "Fairfax County, Virginia: The dangerous consequences of sanctuary policies," also alleges that Descano misled Congress about the scope of his policies. "The Biden-Harris Administration worked to weaken the first Trump Administration’s efforts to hold sanctuary jurisdictions accountable for undermining immigration enforcement," the report read.
"In addition to dropping federal litigation relating to sanctuary jurisdictions’ policies, the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice Department, beginning in April 2021, no longer required jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE as a condition of receiving federal grant funding." SOROS-LINKED PROSECUTOR FACES PRIMARY CHALLENGE AS FELLOW DEMOCRAT TARGETS HIS RECORD During testimony before the committee in May, Descano said his policy was "written with legal permanent residents in mind for minor crimes." But in a September letter, the committee said Descano acknowledged that prosecutors could consider immigration consequences in cases involving illegal immigrants as well. Descano’s campaign website previously stated that when "possible," his office would "make charging and plea decisions that limit or avoid immigration consequences." He also argued that "if two people commit the same crime, but only one’s punishment includes deportation, that’s a perversion of justice and not a reflection of the values of Fairfax County." ICE ARRESTS ILLEGAL ALIEN ACCUSED OF SEXUALLY ASSAULTING CHILDREN AFTER FAIRFAX COUNTY RELEASE: DHS The committee cited numerous cases in which it said criminal defendants benefited from reduced or dismissed charges. In one example, prosecutors allegedly reduced felony charges involving the sexual assault of a child to misdemeanor "consensual sex with a child" and offered a 90-day suspended jail sentence.
The report also said Descano’s office dropped more than 50 charges against a serial fraudster from China and allowed defendants charged with malicious wounding, strangulation, assault and battery and other violent offenses to "escape accountability and reoffend." ICE ARRESTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CONVICTED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER, RAPE AND CHILD SEX CRIMES IN TARGETED CRACKDOWN The committee detailed additional cases involving defendants accused of child pornography, rape, abduction, firearm offenses, drug possession and assault. In some cases, the report said, defendants were released despite ICE detainers and later arrested again. One case involved Marvin Morales-Ortez, an alleged MS-13 member whose charges were dropped before the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office released him in December 2025.
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