Seven years of 'limit or avoid immigration consequences.' Then Descano told Congress it wasn't his policy

For seven years, according to the House Judiciary Committee's Oct. 20 staff report, Steve Descano's campaign website told Fairfax voters exactly what to expect: "[w]herever possible," he "will make charging and plea decisions that limit or avoid immigration consequences." The site called it "a perversion of justice" when only one of two people who commit the same crime faces deportation.

Then Congress started asking questions, and the report says the pledge disappeared from the site. His office said it was removed because people were "misinterpreting" it as office policy.

Under oath on May 14, Descano told the subcommittee the statements were "not [his] policy." He said he "could not believe" people were "so obtuse" that they couldn't tell a campaign statement from office policy. His actual policy, he testified, was "narrow" and "written with legal permanent residents in mind for minor crimes."

The report says his Sept. 7 letter to the committee told a different story. In it, Descano admitted his office's consideration of immigration consequences is "not limited to any category of immigrants," which would include people in the country illegally. He said the campaign promises "were from 2019," before his office wrote the policy into its procedures in 2020. He offered a new exception, that the policy doesn't apply to dropped charges. The same letter blamed crime victims and witnesses for cases his office didn't prosecute.

The report also notes that a PAC primarily funded by George Soros has given $627,653 to Descano's campaigns, and that a northern Virginia law enforcement group has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether his office violated citizens' civil rights by favoring non-citizens.

The committee has subpoenaed the list of cases in which his office applied the policy. That list would show which account matches what his office actually did.

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 is an independent city in Northern Virginia.

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.