Descano wouldn't name the cases, so Congress subpoenaed them

If Steve Descano's immigration policy is as narrow as he says, there should be a short list of the cases it affected. According to the House Judiciary Committee's Oct. 20 staff report, he refused to produce that list.

The committee first asked for material on Jan. 15. In May, Descano testified that the policy was "written with legal permanent residents in mind for minor crimes." In July he waved off the cases in question as a handful out of more than 10,000 a year. In September he conceded the policy is "not limited to any category of immigrants." The report says he still would not identify the cases in which prosecutors applied it.

So the committee issued a subpoena. The report cites a Sept. 16 letter from Chairman Jim Jordan for that step.

Descano has also offered a new exception: the policy doesn't apply when charges are simply dropped. The committee points out that the written policy contains no such limitation, and that Virginia appellate cases treat dropped charges as part of plea bargaining, which the policy plainly covers.

The report gives no deadline and no next enforcement step. It says the investigation remains ongoing. The question remains which Fairfax cases prosecutors decided with immigration consequences in mind, and Descano has not answered it.

RVN has asked Descano's office for comment. The report's claims are drawn from records the committee says it holds, which have not been made public.

Source: "Fairfax County, Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies," interim staff report of the House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, released Oct. 20, 2026. Read the report (PDF).

Fairfax County is a county in Northern Virginia. Its county seat is Fairfax, an independent city.