House committee subpoenaed Descano over cases where immigration consequences were weighed

The timeline in the report:

• Jan. 15, 2026: Chairman Jim Jordan and the immigration subcommittee request material from Descano about his office's immigration-related policies and prosecutions.

• May 14, 2026: Descano testifies to the subcommittee.

• July 2, 2026: Descano writes to the committee, describing the cases at issue as "a few individual criminal cases ... out of over 10,000 cases" a year.

• Sept. 7, 2026: In a second letter, he says the policy does not apply to dropped charges and that its consideration of immigration consequences is "not limited to any category of immigrants." The report says he also refused to identify the cases in which the policy was applied.

• Sept. 16, 2026: The report cites a letter from Jordan to Descano dated Sept. 16 in support of its statement that "the Committee was forced to issue a subpoena for this information."

What the subpoena seeks. According to the report, the subpoena seeks the cases in which his office considered immigration consequences under its written policy. That policy directs prosecutors to take "immigration consequences into account when making charging and plea decisions."

What the report doesn't say. It gives no due date for the subpoena. It does not say whether Descano has complied, and it does not describe any enforcement step. The committee says its review of cases and documents remains ongoing and calls the report "interim."

The report was prepared by the committee's Republican majority staff and relies in part on nonpublic records the committee says are on file with it. Those records have not been released. All News Virginia has requested comment from the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office and will update this story if it responds.

Source: "Fairfax County, Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies," interim staff report of the House Judiciary Committee and its Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, released Oct. 20, 2026.Read the report (PDF).

Fairfax County is a county in Northern Virginia. Its county seat is Fairfax, an independent city.