House committee criticizes Fairfax County sheriff, prosecutor for sanctuary policies
Top members who serve on the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary said their committee is conducting oversight of state and local jurisdictions. They argue that American communities are endangered through jurisdictions' refusal to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
On Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Chairman of the subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement Tom McClintock wrote letters to Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano and Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid detailing the committee’s concerns about their refusal to work with federal immigration officials.
The House Republicans told Descano, “We write to request information about your office’s sanctuary policies, which ultimately endanger the communities you serve.”
For Kincaid, Republicans said, “The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office’s immigration-related policies prioritize illegal aliens over American citizens and threaten public safety. We write to request information about your office’s sanctuary policies, including your refusal to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to ensure that dangerous aliens are not released onto American streets.”
Jordan and McClintock told Descano and Kincaid that their “pro-illegal alien policies have deadly consequences.”
“On December 16, 2025, the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office released Marvin Morales-Ortez, an alleged MS-13 member from El Salvador, after the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office decided not to move forward with prosecuting him on charges of malicious assault and pointing/brandishing a gun stemming from an incident on September 12th,” the letter addressed to Kincaid read.
“Despite an ICE detainer on Morales-Ortez, your office refused to briefly detain him until ICE could arrest him and failed to even notify ICE about his imminent release,” the letter to Kincaid continues. “As a result, Morales-Ortez was released freely into northern Virginia. One day later, Morales-Ortez allegedly murdered a man in Reston, Virginia, and has now been charged with second-degree murder. Even now, however, you continue to defend your failed sanctuary policies and refuse to take accountability for their consequences.”
Kincaid chooses not to honor detainers. As 7News has reported in the past, Kincaid requires ICE to obtain judicial warrants from a local judge if ICE wants to pick up an illegal immigrant at her jail. ICE officials have told 7News that the requirement conflicts with federal law on how ICE is expected to operate by Congress.
7News has also reported on how Fairfax County Chairman Jeff McKay and the Board of Supervisors’ Trust Policy prevents the Fairfax County Police Department from working with federal immigration officials.
“Given the dangerous nature of sanctuary jurisdictions and their active role in thwarting federal immigration enforcement, the Committee is concerned about the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office’s role in shielding criminal aliens and undermining public safety,” the Republicans told Kincaid.
In a separate letter, Jordan and McClintock told Descano, “During your tenure, the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office has routinely undermined the rule of law under the guise of safeguarding the public. For years, your office has prohibited its employees from “assist[ing] federal agents with civil immigration enforcement. The sanctuary policy prohibits prosecutors from sharing arrest information and immigration status details with federal immigration officials and bans employees from cooperating in the enforcement of federal administrative warrants for illegal and criminal aliens. Your office also routinely fails to prosecute cases against criminal aliens, allowing them to reoffend and terrorize new victims.”
The Republicans told Descano, “In one case involving a twice-deported illegal alien from Guatemala, prosecutors in your office “dropped his felony charge for allegedly strangling a woman in exchange for a guilty plea” to a misdemeanor offense. The criminal alien’s victim “feared for her safety and that of her children when she heard [the illegal alien] was back on the street so soon.”
The letter continues, “In August 2024, your office also dropped charges against an illegal alien who had been charged with, “aggravated sexual battery against a minor under 13 and felony indecent liberties.” Instead of taking accountability for your office’s routine protection of criminal aliens, you blamed ICE for your failures.”
“In yet another case from this past year, your office dismissed charges against an illegal alien from Honduras who had been charged with “alleged abduction of a person with intent to defile and alleged burglary with the intent to murder, rape, or commit another felony.” The dismissal came after a judge rejected a lenient plea deal offered by your office,” the Republicans told Descano.
The Republicans also blasted Descano for his handling of the Morales-Ortez case, writing, “Your office’s recent actions to drop additional charges against Morales-Ortez paved the way for Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid to refuse to honor an ICE detainer and release him into the community. One day later, Morales-Ortez allegedly murdered a man in Reston, Virginia, and has now been charged with second-degree murder.”
In their efforts to provide oversight, the House Judiciary Committee is requesting Descano and Kincaid to release to the committee, by not later than Jan. 29:
All documents and communications referring or relating to the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office’s interaction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the period January 1, 2018, to the present:
The number of ICE detainers that the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office has declined to honor from January 1, 2018, to the present; and
All documents and communications between or among the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office and the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office referring or relating to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the period January 1, 2018, to the present.
All documents and communications referring or relating to the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office’s interaction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the period January 1, 2020, to the present;
All documents and communications referring or relating to the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office’s policies related to the prosecution of non-U.S. citizens;
All documents and communications referring or relating to the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office’s policies related to bond for non-U.S. citizens; and
- All documents and communications between or among the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office referring or relating to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the period January 1, 2020, to the present.