The Department of Justice has alerted Fairfax County’s elected prosecutor that he is now under investigation for civil rights “misconduct” for going too easy on immigrants when his office decides how to prosecute cases.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon on Wednesday sent a letter informing Steve Descano, the commonwealth’s attorney, that they have just opened the probe and have not reached any conclusions. She invited his cooperation.
She said the focus of the probe is Mr. Descano’s 2020 policy that directs his prosecutors to consider “collateral immigration consequences” when thinking about what charges to pursue.
“Under my leadership, the Civil Rights Division will not allow local prosecutors to pick and choose winners based on their immigration status,” Ms. Dhillon said. “This investigation will uncover whether this prosecutor is putting the community at risk in offering sweetheart deals to illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes.”
In her letter to Mr. Descano, she said they are probing whether the memo and the office’s prosecutorial decisions violate the Safe Streets Act or the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits any organization that receives federal support from engaging in discrimination based on race, color or national origin.
The Washington Times reached out to Mr. Descano’s office for comment.
Mr. Descano and, more broadly, Fairfax County have become a major target for the Trump administration as it pushes for better cooperation from local authorities in its immigration crackdown.
Homeland Security regularly dings the county, and Mr. Descano in particular, for failing to pursue to the fullest extent cases against illegal immigrants.
Last year, that included Hyrum Baquedano Rodriguez, a Honduran immigrant who was charged with breaking into a home and attempting to abduct and “defile” a 4-year-old. Mr. Descano’s office tried to offer a lenient plea deal then, after two judges rejected that deal as too lenient, he dropped the case altogether.
His office blamed the judges and “evidentiary issues” for the mess.
Then, in December, the county released Marvin Morales-Ortez after Mr. Descano’s office said it couldn’t pursue a case against him of brandishing a gun and assaulting and injuring a victim. His office said a key witness was out of the country, ruining the case.
A day after his release, Mr. Morales-Ortez would slay a man at a residence in Reston, authorities charged.
Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee have also been investigating Mr. Descano over Mr. Morales-Ortez’s case.
The Justice Department, in announcing its probe Wednesday, said these kinds of investigations often result in settlements that prod departments into making reforms.
Mr. Descano in the past had been explicit in saying he was giving noncitizens a break in both charging and plea deal decisions. He called that a “top priority.”
“If two people commit the same crime, but only one’s punishment includes deportation, that’s a perversion of justice and not a reflection of the values of Fairfax County,” Mr. Descano’s campaign website proclaimed for years.
He also said the Trump administration’s focus on immigration led to “increased crime” by scaring immigrants into refusing to cooperate with authorities.
That page was taken down this spring.
Mr. Descano said in a candidate questionnaire to the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia that he would not “notify or alert immigration officials or agencies” about “defendants with whom the office comes into contact.”
Sean Kennedy, president of Virginians for Safe Communities, said Mr. Descano has created a “two-tiered system” that treats illegal immigrants better than others.
“Descano’s discriminatory policies are both unconstitutional and immoral,” Mr. Kennedy said. “DOJ is right to investigate whether Fairfax’s top prosecutor put criminal aliens ahead of public safety, the law, and the victims he swore to protect.”
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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