Soros-backed prosecutor set for Capitol Hill grilling as sanctuary policies face reckoning

Steve Descano, Commonwealth’s Attorney of Fairfax County, Virginia, speaks at an event at the Center for American Progress about Virginia’s Newly Elected Progressive Prosecutors on Tuesday, December 17, 2019.(Getty Images)

Descano has previously testified in state-level legislative hearings, including before the Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee, but the May 14 hearing would mark his first known appearance before a congressional committee.

“CA Descano is looking forward to the opportunity to discuss Fairfax’s record as one of the safest large jurisdictions in the country,” Descano� 

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Upon first announcing the hearing in April, prior to the committee confirming Descano’s attendance and a finalized date, Republican leaders said Descano’s testimony would help inform possible reforms targetingsanctuary jurisdictions.

The scrutiny was driven largely by the murder of Minter, a Fredericksburg mother who was stabbed to death at a Fairfax County bus stop earlier this year.Her alleged killer, Sierra Leone national Abdul Jalloh, is an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal history whose prior encounters with law enforcement had raised concerns. 

Fairfax County police had also previouslywarnedDescano’s office multiple times, including last year, about Jalloh’s potential for violence, including one officer who cautioned in an email that it was “not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again.”

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Despite those warnings, prosecutors dropped multiple charges against Jalloh, allowing him to remain free.Department of Homeland Security authorities said Jalloh had been arrested 30 times, including for violent offenses, before targeting Minter.

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Abdul Jalloh, 32, is accused of killing Stephanie Minter, 41, at a bus stop in Virginia.

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Descano has also faced criticism for his broader posture on immigration after campaigning on what he said was a two-tiered justice system that disadvantaged noncitizens, who could also see deportation as a consequence for their crimes.

Descano, for his part, has received more than $600,000 in campaign support from the Justice and Public Safety PAC, a committee primarily funded by Democratic megadonor George Soros that supports progressive prosecutors, according topublic records.

George Soros, Founder and Chairman of the Open Society Foundations, arrives for a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on April 27, 2017.(Olivier Hoslet/AFP)

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DHS and House Republicans have alsopointed toFairfax County plea deals involving noncitizens, including a high-profile 2024 murder case where two defendants received five-year sentences, which they linked to Descano’s avoidance of immigration-related outcomes.

Kincaid, who will also testify, has drawn separate scrutiny for declining to honor Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers and instead requiring judicial warrants before transferring inmates to federal custody once they leave local jails, a policy federal officials have said conflicts with how ICE operates.

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