The Fairfax County, VA Soros Prosecutor Is Grilled by Congress for Making Charging Decisions Based on a Criminal's Immigration Status -- Letting Illegals Off on Light Charges So They Don't Get Deported

This guy is a literal menace to public safety.

Fairfax County prosecutor Steve Descano was aware of an illegal immigrant's violent past and still elected to set him free, new Freedom of Information Act filings show.

Abdul Jalloh, who has been arrested more than 30 times, allegedly murdered 41-year-old mother Stephanie Minter on Feb. 23. Minter's body was found at a bus stop in Hybla Valley, Va. with "multiple stab wounds to the upper body" according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Jalloh entered the country illegally in 2012 and, according to records, is a violent repeat offender.

Fairfax County Police Major Jeff Mauro emailed Jenna Sands, the Fairfax County Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney and Descano's second-in-command, to protest Jalloh's release from police custody. Mauro cited Jalloh's "extensive criminal history," including stabbing several people and sexually assaulting a woman.

"Mr. Jalloh is one of the repeat (and violent) felony offenders I expressed concern about when we met," Mauro wrote in the email. "He has an extensive criminal history--he has stabbed multiple people, sexually assaulted at least one woman, and committed numerous other criminal offenses. Furthermore, his behavior appears to be escalating and becoming more violent and explosive."

Mauro explained that he was "concerned that it is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again."

According to records posted on X, Fairfax County police encountered the man 178 times. Jalloh attacked an elderly person, stabbed an individual in the head and raped a woman after choking her.

Despite Jalloh's violent criminal history, Sands told affiliate NBC Washington, "In multiple cases, we were unable to move forward with prosecution because victims could not be located or contacted, despite considerable effort from our police department to bring them to court."

An email posted to X shows, however, that Fairfax Deputy Police Chief Brooke Wright explicitly requested "prosecuting without a victim in court" due to the circumstances of the case, which Wright says, "she was on board with."
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Deputy Assistant Secretary of DHS Lauren Bis called on Virginia Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger to not release violent criminals without notifying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

"We are calling on Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger and Virginia's sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this murderer and violent career criminal from their jail without notifying ICE," Bis said. "This illegal alien's murder of an innocent, beautiful American woman came less than 24 hours before Governor Spanberger's demonization of ICE law enforcement. This heinous criminal is a perfect example of why we need cooperation from sanctuary jurisdictions and the importance of third country removals for the safety of the American people."

Virginia Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger has denied this request, according to a statement from Spanberger's spokesperson, which WJLA reporter Nick Minock read in a video to X.

He was summoned to Congress because he has openly proclaimed that he discriminates against American citizens in his charging decisions, letting illegal alien criminals off with minor charges or none at all.

Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano and Sheriff Stacey Kincaid will be testifying before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement, as will Cheryl Minter, whose daughter Stephanie was killed in February, at a bus stop along Route 1 in Hybla Valley.

Abdul Jalloh, a 32-year-old immigrant from Sierra Leone will stand trial for Minter's murder.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice began an investigation of Descano.

In a letter to Descano, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon said the DOJ is investigating whether his office violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and the Safe Streets Act, which both "prohibit recipients of Federal financial assistance from discriminating based upon race, color, or national origin."

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The policy in question was adopted by Descano's office in 2020 as part of its guidelines for plea bargaining. It instructs assistant Commonwealth's attorneys to "consider immigration consequences where possible" and states that "prosecutors shall consider ... the collateral immigration consequences of the specific crime(s) the defendant is charged with."

The webpage detailing the policy is no longer publicly available on his office's website.

That's a euphemistic way to say: When Harmeet Dhillon opened a civil rights investigation into his discriminatory charging practices, he deleted the statement about it on the website, to hide the evidence.

After the launch of the Justice Department investigation, Descano said his policies reflect the community he serves, in which "three in ten residents of Fairfax County are immigrants."

Good Lord. No wonder they're flocking to his jurisdiction to do their murders and child rapes.

Cheryl Minter has said if Jalloh had been prosecuted earlier, her daughter would still be alive. She is hopeful the hearing will prompt changes and is working with groups attempting to remove Descano from office.

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"Let me be absolutely clear. My office does not provide sanctuary or safe harbor to undocumented immigrants," according to Descano's written remarks. "We routinely prosecute immigrants who commit crimes and we will continue to do so."

Except he doesn't. This is perjury.

When asked about the promises he made during his campaign to let illegal aliens off with light charges or no charges at all, he claimed he was just joshin' and no one would take campaign promises seriously.

Except... that he actually honored this promise, letting one dangerous illegal alien felon off after another.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tussled with high-profile Soros-backed Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Stephen Descano over soft-on-crime policies that critics said let illegal immigrant criminals back on the street.

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Jordan began by pressing Kincaid on why she "let" illegal immigrant suspect Marvin Morales-Ortiz out of her jail: "Because the guy beside you wouldn't prosecute him, right?"

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Jordan then turned to Descano, questioning changes to language on his website about considering immigration consequences in charging decisions.

Descano said the excerpt was part of a "campaign" statement and not an actual law enforcement policy, leading Jordan to incredulously ask whether people should believe his campaign statements will translate into policies upon election.

"That's not what I'm saying," Descano countered.

"This is almost laughable," said Jordan. "This is your policy. You said it right here. You told the voters, if you elect me, I will take into account immigration consequences when making, charging and pleading [decisions]."

Descano's exchange with next Republican to ask questions, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of South Jersey, also quickly escalated into near-shouting.

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He called the conditions in sanctuary jurisdictions "bizarro world" and asked the prosecutor if communities are safer when illegal immigrant criminals are deported or when they are released.

"Well, sir, that's not --" Descano began before Van Drew cut him off. "Yes or no -- I'm asking the questions."

"You're a human being. You're sitting next to a woman who lost her daughter. Can you tell me if illegal criminals are removed from the country; if we're safer," Van Drew said, prompting a fiery response from Descano:

"To suggest I don't care about what happens in my community..." he began before more crosstalk ensued.

"Dammit, answer my question," Van Drew eventually fumed.

"Explain to the lady next to you (Cheryl Minter). Abdul Jalloh was charged in your county more than 40 times. Not four times. 40 times. Your office dropped the charges in almost every single case. That's fact. We have it documented. We can look at it your own. Fairfax County Police Department wrote your office [in] May 2025 saying he had shown a, quote, 'blatant disregard for human life and was a danger to the community' and that if he wasn't detained and deported, he would seriously hurt someone or kill someone," Van Drew said.

"The very man went out and then killed someone. So the question is, couldn't've we done better there?"

Another panelist also elicited occasional rifts with the lawmakers. Libertarian analyst David Bier of the Cato Institute often defended the idea of counties making their own decisions about whether to cooperate with federal law enforcement.

Part of Bier's opening statement drew some eyebrows on X, as he appeared to suggest as much as 20% of Fairfax County's population is deportable -- when trying to argue against mass deportation.

Some clips below. One clip shows Descano claiming that his key campaign promise was and is a lie. His supporters in the room gasp at this claim.

He needs to go to prison.

Jason Miyares, former Republican Virginia AG until they voted in the guy who called for the murder of a Republican rival's children, explained something I didn't know.

You know how the left keeps demanding that ICE get "federal judicial warrants" to arrest illegal aliens who commit state crimes?

That's legally impossible -- no one can get a federal judicial warrant to make an arrest for a state crime. Federal arrest warrants are for federal crimes only.

So they're just straight-up lying to the public -- what they want is 'no arrests of illegals for deportation at all," but they don't want to admit that to swing voters, so they pretend they're in favor of a "middle ground position" that is legally impossible.

Law Enforcement Legal Defense
@LELDF

Damning question from McClintock about Descano dropping charges against an illegal immigrant who tried to rape a 4 year-old girl.

REP. McCLINTOCK: I understand he was later taken into custody by ICE and deported. I'm just curious, did you notify ICE of that release?

DESCANO: We did not call ICE.

McCLINTOCK: The 4-year-old's mother had to call to get him out of your community.

McCLINTOCK: Mr. Miyares, we keep hearing from Sheriff Kincaid among others that they'd be happy to respond to a federal judicial warrant to honor a detainer request. Well, is a federal judicial warrant possible to obtain in a state crime?

MIYARES: No, it's not--and they know this.

MCCLINTOCK: And if deportation is a civil matter, how does one get a federal judicial warrant?

MIYARES: You can't. Again, they know this.

McCLINTOCK: So they're basically lying to the public. They're counting on the public not understanding that what they're asking for is legally impossible.

MIYARES: It's legally impossible. Yes, Mr. Chair.

That exchanbe is here.