Justice Department Opens Civil Rights Probe Into Fairfax Prosecutor’s Immigration Policies

The Justice Department opened a civil rights investigation Wednesday into Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s charging, plea bargaining and sentencing policies, widening a local fight into a national test of whether prosecutors can weigh immigration consequences without crossing into unequal treatment under the law.

The Civil Rights Division said it will examine whether Descano’s office discriminated against U.S. citizens by offering preferential treatment only to illegal alien criminal defendants. The review will be conducted under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Safe Streets Act and the federal law-enforcement misconduct statute, 34 U.S.C. § 12601. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the division will not allow local prosecutors to “pick and choose winners” based on immigration status, and suggested the probe will look at whether Fairfax’s approach exposed the community to “sweetheart deals” for serious offenders.

Descano’s office said it received the notice but would not comment publicly. The office’s written policy, in place since December 2020, directs assistant commonwealth’s attorneys to consider immigration consequences where possible and where doing so accords with justice. It instructs prosecutors to weigh the collateral effects of charges, as well as the impact deportation or removal can have on families and communities. At the same time, it says public safety and harm to victims can outweigh those concerns in violent or otherwise serious cases.

The dispute has been building for months. In September 2025, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares referred his own investigation of Descano to the Justice Department, accusing him of violating federal law. Descano called that effort a “sad, last-ditch political stunt” by a man “about to lose an election,” and said voters had elected him twice. He also argued that Fairfax remained “the safest large county of its size in the country.”

Pressure intensified again in April 2026 after Cheryl Minter and the Victims Rights Reform Council filed a formal DOJ complaint over the February 23 killing of Stephanie Minter at a Fairfax bus stop. The complaint named Abdul Jalloh as the suspect and alleged that he had a violent history and had previously been flagged by law enforcement. It argued that Descano’s office policy on consideration of immigration consequences helped lead to Jalloh’s release. Descano has rejected claims that his office favors one group over another and said the accusations had been distorted for political gain.

The case now moves into Congress as well. Descano is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee on May 14, where lawmakers are expected to press the broader question now confronting prosecutors nationwide: whether policies framed as equitable discretion amount to a referendum on progressive prosecution, or a failure of equal justice.