By Nick Minock – December 2nd, 2024

WASHINGTON (7News) — Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares is calling on Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano to resign.

This comes after Herndon police said 31-year-old Denis Humberto Navarette Romero raped a woman on the popular W&OD trail in Herndon.

Prior to the rape, Navarette Romero was arrested for a number of crimes and local leaders released him back into the community time and time again.

Navarette Romero is in the U.S. illegally, according to police. According to court documents, Navarette Romero is receiving public assistance.

“When you see the stories of victims, and then it’s by someone who has been here illegally, it’s because so often what has happened is local government won’t cooperate with our federal partners, and you see this breakdown. It’s absolutely senseless,” said Miyares. “This person was in our country and was able to harm others when he had [a] prior criminal history, some of which were violent acts, and this person still was in our country and was able to commit this unspeakable crime. It is simply unjustified and inexcusable.”

Those are the words some Herndon residents are using to describe what happened in their community.

This week, the Herndon community came together in prayer, but many residents are still petrified and shocked that the raped happened on what was thought to be a family-friendly trail.

“It scares me because there are so many kids that go to this school and walk home, people around the neighborhood come walking around all the time,” a Herndon resident told 7News about the trail where the woman was raped.

Miyares said the Virginia General Assembly should pass legislation to require local jurisdictions to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Right now, Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid does not honor ICE detainers.

Fairfax County Chair Jeff McKay and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors passed a policy banning the Fairfax County Police Department from working with ICE and federal immigration officials even to deport non-citizens who commit violent crimes in Fairfax County.

“We’re seeing real lives being impacted, real Virginians being hurt, because they’ve adopted this criminal first, victim last mindset, and it’s heartbreaking to see,” said Miyares.

7News has made multiple requests to interview Kincaid, McKay, and Descano about the sanctuary policies they have implemented. They had not yet agreed to an interview.

7News reached out to Descano’s office Friday morning and asked if Descano plans to resign. Why does Descano repeatedly drop felony charges to misdemeanor charges for violent offenders and people who are in the U.S. illegally? Why did he drop the felony charges against Romero? And why has Descano repeatedly released Romero back into the community? Descano did not respond to these questions before the publication of this story.

“There will be bills this session requiring local government to cooperate with federal authorities,” said Miyares. “There will be bills this session, for example, felony homicide against our fentanyl dealers, poisoning our kids. So you’re going to see a host of really solid public safety common sense bills yet again. And my hope is we don’t need all of them, we just need a few, a few Democrats on the other side of the aisle to look at this from a common sense perspective and to advance them, because the broad, broad percentage of Virginians support this. This is an outrageous act of violence that came to Herndon in one of our charming areas of the Commonwealth. I’ve been to the Washington and Old Dominion trail. It’s a beautiful area. It’s commonly used by families and from those of young and old. The idea that this unspeakable act of violence that happened right there that so many Virginians use, I just find unconscionable. This needs to end, and it breaks down when you have local leaders who decide they’re not going to cooperate with federal authorities. They’re playing politics with people’s safety.”

In response to the legislation to require jurisdictions to cooperate with ICE, Democratic State Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell told 7News, “Other than inflation causing mass deportations, I look forward to seeing how Virginia Republicans plan to solve America’s immigration stalemate after their leaders killed the only bipartisan comprehensive federal solution proposed in the last 4 years.”

Republican State Senator Glen Sturtevant plans to sponsor the legislation that would require local jurisdictions in Virginia to cooperate with ICE.

FairfaxGOP originally wrote this and published it as Jason Miyares, Virginia AG Calls On Fairfax County CA Steve Descano To Resign After Herndon Rape Case