Dept. of Justice investigating Fairfax County's top attorney over handling of cases involving immigrants [Virginia]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Thu May 7, 2026, 05:47 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: WTOP

Dept. of Justice investigating Fairfax County’s top attorney over handling of cases involving immigrants

Ciara Wells | [e-mail]
May 6, 2026, 9:42 PM

The Department of Justice announced Wednesday it was initiating an investigation into Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano over his office’s handling of cases involving undocumented immigrants.

In a letter to Descano, Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General 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.” ... The investigation, it said, would also determine if Descano’s office “discriminated against United States citizens by offering preferential treatment only to illegal alien criminal defendants.”

In a news release, Dhillon said her office would “not allow local prosecutors to pick and choose winners based on their immigration status,” and would work to see if Descano’s legal decisions have put “the community at risk in offering sweetheart deals to illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes.”

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.”

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Ciara Wells
Ciara Wells is the Evening Digital Editor at WTOP. She is a graduate of American University where she studied journalism and Spanish. Before joining WTOP, she was the opinion team editor at a student publication and a content specialist at an HBCU in Detroit.

[e-mail]

Read more: https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2026/05/dept-of-justice-investigating-fairfax-countys-top-attorney-over-handling-of-cases-involving-immigrants/

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Fairfax County is in northern Virginia. In the recently approved redistricting, it got spread over five congressional districts.

Fairfax County, Virginia, Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano

[SouthBayDem]

1. The retaliatory timing is sooooo obvious nt

[Joinfortmill]

2. Jeezus. Our country is a mess.