Soros-backed DA accused of going easy on illegal immigrants gets squeezed by House GOP

House Judiciary Chairman Threatens Subpoenas in Probe of "Sanctuary" Prosecutors

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is signaling that his panel is prepared to use compulsory legal authority to obtain records from local prosecutors his committee believes are factoring immigration status into criminal charging decisions, regardless of whether the alleged offense is related to a suspect's legal standing in the country.

The Ohio Republican told Fox News Digital in an interview that the investigation, which has focused on district attorneys in jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, has so far relied on informal document requests. That approach, he said, is not without limits.

"If we have to, we'll use subpoenas to get the documents that we think they may not be giving us," Jordan said. "There's a process we always go through. We ask for things, we ask again, we explain why, we work with their office — in some cases their counsel — and back and forth. And then if we have to use subpoenas, we certainly will do that … but we want to know the facts."

Fairfax County at the center of the inquiry

Jordan named Fairfax County, Virginia, Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano as a particular focus. The inquiry intensified after the killing of Stephanie Minter, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen who was stabbed to death in the county. Federal immigration authorities identified the accused killer as a citizen of Sierra Leone who entered the U.S. illegally in 2012 and had been arrested more than 30 times before the killing.

Descano, who has led the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office since January 2020, issued plea-bargaining guidance that year directing prosecutors to "consider immigration consequences where possible" and to weigh "the collateral immigration consequences of the specific crime(s) the defendant is charged with," according to reporting by WTOP News.

Fairfax County operates as a sanctuary jurisdiction, meaning local law enforcement is not required to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Jordan was direct in his criticism of such policies and the prosecutors who implement them.

"This is one of the dumbest policies I've ever heard of," he said. "You're going to tell local law enforcement not to work with federal law enforcement when it comes to enforcing federal law? And then you have people like Mr. Descano, who are releasing bad guys, and they have a stated policy saying, you know, 'We will look at their immigration status before we make a decision on charging,' and in certain clear agreements and they're releasing guys. You have then you have bad things happen."

He pointed to Minter's death as the kind of outcome the committee is trying to understand and prevent.

A target on the capital's doorstep

Jordan also raised the national security implications of Fairfax County's policies, noting its location just outside Washington, D.C.

"That's definitely a concern that I think probably any American with common sense would have," he said.

The chairman indicated that the investigation would not stop at Fairfax County. He identified other prosecutors who have drawn scrutiny for similar approaches, including Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in New York and Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner.

"You've got not just Descano, but it looks like Alvin Bragg up in New York, [Larry Krasner] in Philadelphia, so many of these DAs who are doing the same darn thing," Jordan said.

Funding and political context

Descano's 2019 campaign for Commonwealth's Attorney received substantial financial support from Justice and Public Safety PAC, a political action committee whose donors include billionaire George Soros, according to public reporting. Soros-linked funding of progressive prosecutor campaigns has been a recurring theme in national political coverage in recent years.

Parallel federal action

The congressional inquiry comes as the U.S. Department of Justice has opened its own investigation into Descano's office, and the Department of Homeland Security has been active in pushing back against sanctuary policies in multiple states. The Department of Justice has also filed suit against at least one state, accusing officials of an "active and deliberate effort" to prevent deportations.

The Judiciary Committee's investigation will continue to rely on voluntary cooperation for now, but Jordan's comments leave little doubt that subpoenas are firmly on the table if that cooperation is not forthcoming.

Fox News Digital reached out to Descano's office for comment; this article will be updated if a response is received.