Report details reduced plea deals in Fairfax cases involving non-citizens

Several examples come from a 2025 investigative report by the office of then-Attorney General Jason Miyares, which the committee cites. According to the committee report, prosecutors:

• Reduced a charge of carnal knowledge of a 13- or 14-year-old to a misdemeanor charge of consensual sex with a child 15 or older, with a 90-day suspended jail sentence.

• Reduced a charge of rape by force or threat to misdemeanor sexual assault of a child 13 to 14, with a fully suspended sentence. The report says the same man was charged 10 days later with eight counts of possession of child pornography, and two weeks after that was arrested for DUI.

• Reduced a malicious wounding charge to unlawful wounding with a sentence of time served, after dismissing charges of use of a firearm in a felony, endangering a child by leaving a loaded gun accessible, and reckless handling of a firearm.

The report also says that in a case involving two men it describes as illegal immigrants with criminal histories who killed a man in Fairfax County in 2024, Descano's office offered a plea deal under which they will serve five years. It says the office attributed the deal to a lack of physical evidence and to witnesses who "were terrified to come forward or assist with prosecution."

Other cases cited include a twice-deported Guatemalan man whose felony strangulation charge was dropped in exchange for a misdemeanor guilty plea, and a 2025 case in which charges against a Honduran man accused of abduction with intent to defile were dismissed after a judge rejected a plea deal.

The report cites Descano's office policy of taking "immigration consequences into account when making charging and plea decisions." In a September 2026 letter, it says, Descano argued for the first time that the policy does not apply to dropped charges. The committee disputes that reading.

The report says the committee's review is ongoing.

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.