House panel calls out Fairfax sheriff and prosecutor over sanctuary policies
NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
House Republicans are pulling two of Fairfax County’s top law enforcement officials, including a Soros-backed prosecutor, after a violent crime spree involving illegal immigrants released from custody has intensified scrutiny of the county’s sanctuary policy.
Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid and Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steven Descano are invited to testify voluntarily at an upcoming Subcommittee on Integrity, Safety and Transportation Enforcement hearing entitled “Fairfax County Virginia – The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary City Policies.”
Both were elected by Democrats, and Descano’s campaigns have received more than $700,000 from organizations backed by Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, according to the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, a police advocacy group.
Descano and Kincaid received nearly identical letters signed by Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock, R-Calif., also obtained by Fox News Digital.
ILLEGAL WOMAN RELEASED UNDER BIDEN AGAINST FEMALE STUDENT IN VIRGINIA HIGH SCHOOL
Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid appears. (Eva Russo/Getty Images)
“The case will examine how state and local policies that prohibit cooperation with immigration authorities harm public safety,” Jordan and McClintock wrote.
“Your testimony will assist the Committee and Subcommittee in developing legislative changes to address sanctuary sites.”
Fairfax officials have until Monday to confirm their attendance at the April 15 hearing at the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.
Descano has a history of dismissing cases against illegal immigrants who often have prior criminal records, including Salvadoran Marvin Morales-Ortez, who is accused of killing a Virginia man while hiding on a hiking trail.
Jordan and McClintock previously wrote to Descano about their concerns over the situation, saying his policies “prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens and threaten public safety.”
DHS BLASTS SPANBERGER MAY RELEASE 30+ CURRENTLY ARRESTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FOR MURDER.
Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano is seen speaking at an event in Fairfax County, Virginia. (Sarah Voisin/Getty Images)
They said Kincaid released Morales-Ortez on Dec. 16 despite possible MS-13 ties after Descano’s office declined to continue the prosecution in the aggravated assault case on Sept. 12.
“Despite the ICE detainer on Morales-Ortez, your office refused to briefly detain him until ICE could arrest him and failed to even notify ICE of his imminent release,” lawmakers wrote to Kincaid at the time.
“One day later, Morales-Ortez is accused of killing a man in Reston, Virginia, and is now charged with a second murder. Yet, even now, you continue to defend your failed sanctuary policies and refuse to take responsibility for their consequences,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter, first reported by Washington’s ABC affiliate.
The agency also reported that the Fairfax County board, led by Chairman Jeffrey McKay, D-Franconia, also banned the Fairfax County Police Department from cooperating with ICE.
Nick Minock, a reporter for the newspaper, later obtained a transcript of Morales-Ortez’s trial in which Descano’s office said Morales-Ortez was present when Jose Guillen Mejia was killed and ambushed the man on the way.
Shortly after being released, Morales-Ortez allegedly went to a home on Fan Shell Court in Reston, Va. – near John F. Dulles International Airport – and allegedly shot a man inside.
POLICE WARNED PROSECUTORS 3 TIMES ABOUT ANOTHER ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BEFORE HE KILLED MOTHER VIRGINIA.
That series of events angered the Trump administration, with then-DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin saying that “Fairfax County politicians [who] the policies that pushed for the release of this illegal alien from prison” “have blood on their hands.”
Recently, the family of Stephanie Minter, a 41-year-old mother stabbed to death at a bus stop in Fairfax by an illegal immigrant with a long rap sheet, called for Descano’s dismissal.
Abdul Jalloh, who is from Sierra Leone, was charged with murder, and Descano released him even though he was warned about his 30 previous arrests. Jalloh was given a removal order during the Biden administration but was not fired.
The Mount Vernon police chief sent an email to Descano’s office about Jalloh’s release as well, according to Fox & Friends.
Given the heavy Democratic bent in Fairfax, Virginia’s largest county by population and one county officials trying to include at least five newly drawn districts, Descano and Kincaid have been strongly supported by voters in each election.
Republicans did not mount an opponent to any candidate in 2023, and Descano’s only challenge came from Democrat Ed Nuttall, whose bid was reportedly boosted by victims’ rights advocates.
ICE NABS IRANIAN NATION AND LEAGUE, SODOMI AFTER VIRGINIA DEMOCRATS NEGOTIATE COOPERATION
Nuttall also mounted a write-in challenge in the general election that year but was defeated. Kincaid was first elected in 2013.
Fairfax Democrats kicked Nuttall out of their party during that write-in bid after attending a Brain Foundation fundraiser with Fairfax’s lone Republican board member, Pat Herrity of Springfield, and Sully Republican board candidate Keith Elliott, according to FairfaxNow.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
Herrity is the son of the late Chairman Jack Herrity, a Republican known as “Mr. Fairfax” in the 1980s when the district was conservative.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the offices of Descano and Kincaid for comment.
