The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano for information about his alleged sanctuary policy offering lenient treatment to illegal immigrants.
The committee also announced a subpoena on Wednesday for the district attorney in Boulder, Colorado.
Chairman Jim Jordan, in his letter to Mr. Descano, said the prosecutor has refused to turn over all of the documents governing his office’s handling of prosecutions of non-Americans.
“Your office’s lenient treatment of foreign national criminals endangers communities and ensures that criminal aliens escape both criminal and immigration accountability for their actions. The policies clearly intersect with federal interests and implicate Congress’s plenary power over immigration,” Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican, wrote in a letter accompanying the subpoena to Mr. Descano.
The chairman said Mr. Descano has refused to share information exploring how his general policies have been carried out in specific cases.
Mr. Jordan said he inquired about 27 cases and Mr. Descano only denied making immigration-related decisions in four of those.
“Your refusal to deny that your office considered immigration consequences in these matters speaks volumes,” the chairman’s letter said.
Mr. Descano’s office called the subpoena a “political sideshow,” saying it has produced 1,100 pages of documents and pointing out that Mr. Descano testified publicly in person to the committee.
“We are disappointed by the committee’s needless escalation of this matter, part of a partisan siege on Fairfax County residents and their values that does nothing to improve public safety,” his office said. It called the county “one of the safest large communities in the country.”
Mr. Descano’s lawyer, in a letter sent ahead of the subpoena this week, accused Mr. Jordan of seeking documents outside of the sanctuary policy dispute. The lawyer called the subpoena an “attempt to intimidate” and said the shifting nature of the investigation undercuts the legal power of the committee’s probe.
During his May testimony, Mr. Descano was confronted by the mother of Stephanie Minter, who was stabbed to death in February in an attack authorities blamed on an illegal immigrant who had been given numerous breaks by county officials over the years on cases that included a reputed rape, stabbings and assaults.
“Our policy of not diverting our resources to federal immigration enforcement also makes our communities safer,” Mr. Descano said. “If victims and witnesses believe my office will report them to ICE, they will not trust us.”
The Justice Department has also opened a probe into Mr. Descano, one of a spate of prosecutors assisted in election by groups tied to billionaire liberal donor George Soros.
At issue is a 2020 statement that directs county prosecutors to consider “collateral immigration consequences” when deciding how to pursue criminal cases.
Mr. Descano had been explicit in the past in saying he was giving noncitizens a break in both charging and plea deal decisions. He called that a “top priority.”
“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,” Mr. Descano’s campaign website proclaimed for years.
He also said the Trump administration’s focus on immigration led to “increased crime” by scaring immigrants into refusing to cooperate with authorities.
That page was taken down this spring.
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