House report blames shutdowns for unpaid DHS staff as it targets Fairfax policies

In its executive summary, the report says Democrats in Congress "shut down the federal government for months in 2025 and 2026" in opposition to the administration's border and enforcement agenda. It says the shutdowns "ensured that many of the hardworking men and women of the Department of Homeland Security were unpaid and unable to fully carry out their mission to protect the homeland."

That is the extent of the report's discussion of the shutdowns. It does not say how many DHS employees went unpaid, how long they went without pay, or how many work in Virginia or the Washington region. It also does not tie the shutdowns to any specific Fairfax County case.

The rest of the report focuses on Fairfax County's handling of ICE detainers and on prosecutions by Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano. It says the sheriff's office declined at least 1,670 detainers from 2023 through 2025.

Northern Virginia is home to a large share of the federal workforce. Readers who are DHS employees and were affected by the shutdowns can contact All News Virginia.

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.