'Legal permanent residents in mind'? Descano's own letter says otherwise

Here is what Steve Descano told Congress under oath on May 14, according to the House Judiciary Committee's Oct. 20 staff report: "First of all, let me be clear. My policy that we're talking about was written with legal permanent residents in mind for minor crimes."

His listeners could fairly take that to mean green-card holders with minor charges, not people in the country illegally and not serious crimes.

Then came his Sept. 7 letter to the committee. The report says that after months of refusing to say whether the policy covered illegal aliens, Descano finally acknowledged that his office's weighing of immigration consequences is "not limited to any category of immigrants." The committee calls that an admission that contradicts his testimony.

The report argues that the practical effect is visible in its case files. They include people who entered illegally or were released at the border and who faced charges such as abduction, strangulation and malicious wounding, not just minor offenses. The report does not say which of those cases, if any, prosecutors decided under the immigration policy. That list is what the committee has subpoenaed.

Descano was entitled to defend his policy, but he described it to Congress as narrower than his own letter now says it is.

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).

Email Steve Descano at:

Steve Descano: stephen.descano@fairfaxcounty.gov

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