A House subcommittee has summoned the top two law enforcement officials in Fairfax County, Virginia, to testify about sanctuary policies linked to violent crimes by illegal immigrants they allowed to walk free.
Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steven Descano and Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid received letters Wednesday from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA) ordering them to confirm by Monday whether they’ll appear at an April 15 hearing titled “Fairfax County Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary City Policies.”
Descano, an elected Democrat, has received more than $700,000 in campaign funding from organizations linked to billionaire George Soros, according to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund.
“The hearing will examine how state and local policies that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration authorities hurt public safety,” Jordan and McClintock wrote. “Your testimony will assist the Committee and Subcommittee in developing legislative reforms to address sanctuary jurisdictions.”
Two cases drove Congress to act.
First: Marvin Morales-Ortez, a Salvadoran national with suspected MS-13 ties. Kincaid released him on December 16 after Descano’s office declined to continue prosecution in a malicious wounding case. Despite an active ICE detainer, the county didn’t detain Morales-Ortez or notify ICE of his release. The next day, he allegedly murdered Jose Guillen Mejia on a Reston, Virginia walking trail. Morales-Ortez now faces a second-degree murder charge.
“One day later, Morales-Ortez allegedly murdered a man in Reston, Virginia, and has now been charged with second-degree murder,” Jordan and McClintock wrote in a prior letter to Kincaid. “Even now, however, you continue to defend your failed sanctuary policies and refuse to take accountability for their consequences.”
Second: Abdul Jalloh, a Sierra Leone national, was charged with the February stabbing death of Stephanie Minter, a 41-year-old mother killed at a Fairfax County bus stop. Jalloh had 30 prior arrests and a standing deportation order from the Biden era that was never enforced. A Mount Vernon police official had sent Descano’s office written warnings about Jalloh before he was released again.
Minter’s family has since called publicly for Descano’s removal from office.
Fairfax County’s board also bars its police department from cooperating with ICE, per county policy backed by Chairman Jeffrey McKay (D). Both Descano and Kincaid have won repeated elections in the heavily Democratic county with no Republican opposition in 2023.
The April 15 hearing gives both officials until Monday to commit to appearing voluntarily. No subpoena has been issued as of Wednesday.
