Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s lawyers said they have been informed that the House Judiciary Committee plans to subpoena him this week and expand its inquiry beyond immigration-related issues.
In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and immigration subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock, Descano’s lawyers said they were notified Monday that the committee intends to issue a subpoena.
The expected subpoena follows Descano’s appearance before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security and Enforcement in May, when he rejected Republican lawmakers’ assertions that Fairfax County, Virginia, is operating under sanctuary policies or giving preferential treatment to people in the U.S. illegally.
“We were surprised and disappointed by this latest escalation,” Descano’s attorneys, Michael Satin and Laura Ferguson, wrote in the letter obtained by WTOP.
“CA Descano testified voluntarily before the Committee, and we produced over 1,100 pages of documents to the Committee and provided four separate letters answering the Committee’s questions and explaining in detail how his office policies have helped keep Fairfax County one of the safest large jurisdictions in the country.”
Descano has previously maintained that his office does not interfere with federal immigration enforcement.
According to the letter, committee staff now plans “to subpoena information about prosecutorial decision-making in individual cases that is not even remotely connected to federal immigration enforcement or to any other legitimate topic for congressional oversight.” The attorneys said staff members are seeking information about all cases that were nolle prossed [voluntarily stopped] during Descano’s tenure, regardless of a defendant’s immigration status or nationality.
Descano’s lawyers argued that the inquiry’s “shifting nature” shows the committee is targeting their client for political reasons. They wrote that the committee’s goal is to “attempt to intimidate and harass a local prosecutor lawfully exercising his prosecutorial authority simply because members of the Committee disagree with his politics and those of the Fairfax County voters who elected (and re-elected) him by a wide margin.”
In the 2023 election, Descano received nearly 78% of the vote.
“But in light of CA Descano’s extensive, good-faith cooperation, the Committee should not issue a subpoena, much less one that seeks information about local prosecutions entirely unrelated to the Committee’s remit,” they wrote.
WTOP has requested comment from the House Judiciary Committee.
The inquiry has focused in part on a 2020 policy directing prosecutors to “consider immigration consequences where possible” when negotiating plea agreements, stating that “prosecutors shall consider … the collateral immigration consequences of the specific crime(s) the defendant is charged with.”
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In Monday’s letter, Descano’s attorneys said they have already explained to the committee that the policy “states unequivocally that a resolution in a case that considers ‘collateral immigration consequences’ will not be better than a resolution offered to a defendant that does not face such collateral issues.”
The congressional scrutiny has also focused on the February 2026 killing of Stephanie Minter along Route 1 in Hybla Valley, Virginia, a case that critics have cited in challenging Descano’s immigration-related policies and prosecutorial practices. Abdul Jalloh, a 32-year-old immigrant from Sierra Leone, is charged in the case and awaiting trial.
During the May hearing, Descano offered condolences to Stephanie Minter’s mother, Cheryl Minter, and said Jalloh is being prosecuted.
“I am not here for politics. I am here for accountability. I am here because a system failed my daughter,” Cheryl Minter tearfully told lawmakers.
The U.S. Department of Justice also launched an investigation into Descano’s office in May.
In a letter to Descano, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon said Justice Department investigators were examining whether the Descano’s office violated federal civil rights laws barring recipients of federal funding from discriminating based on race, color or national origin.
WTOP’s Mitchell Miller contributed to this report.
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