The Justice Division has launched an investigation right into a radical Northern Virginia prosecutor who allegedly discriminated towards US residents by providing preferential remedy “solely to unlawful alien” prison defendants.
The DOJ notified Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Legal professional Steve Descano on Wednesday that it’s wanting into potential civil rights violations associated to his workplace’s plea bargaining, charging choices and sentencing insurance policies.
“Underneath my management, the Civil Rights Division is not going to permit native prosecutors to choose and select winners based mostly on their immigration standing,” Assistant Legal professional Normal Harmeet Dhillon stated in a assertion.
“This investigation will uncover whether or not this prosecutor is placing the group in danger in providing sweetheart offers to unlawful immigrants charged with critical crimes,” the pinnacle of the DOJ’s civil rights division added.
The investigation facilities on Descano’s adoption of insurance policies that instruct prosecutors to “contemplate immigration penalties the place potential” and “contemplate … the collateral immigration penalties of the particular crime(s) the defendant is charged with” throughout plea bargaining, charging and sentencing.
The DOJ is inspecting whether or not Descano “engaged in illegal discrimination in violation of Title VI and the Protected Streets Act and whether or not [his office] is engaged in a sample or observe of regulation enforcement misconduct that deprives individuals of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Structure or legal guidelines of america” by implementing that coverage after his 2019 election.
Throughout his marketing campaign, Descano’s web site included language just like the present Fairfax County DA’s workplace’s coverage.
“If two folks commit the identical crime, however just one’s punishment consists of deportation, that’s a perversion of justice and never a mirrored image of the values of Fairfax County,” learn the since-deleted line on Descano’s web site, The Publish beforehand reported.
Descano, who obtained greater than $700,000 in marketing campaign contributions from teams funded by Democratic kingmaker George Soros, has not too long ago come below hearth for sentencing a pair of unlawful migrants convicted of homicide – Maldin Anibal Guzman and Wis Alonso Sorto-Portillo – to simply 5 years behind bars.
The 2 males had been sentenced final month after admitting to killing Nicacio Hernandez Gonzalez at a preferred park in Oakton, Va., in July 2024.
Descano has additionally confronted controversy for apparently ignoring warnings from Fairfax County cops relationship again to 2025 concerning the hazard of an unlawful migrant from Sierra Leone – Abdul Jalloh – who, in February, was arrested for fatally stabbing 41-year-old mother Stephanie Minter.
Jalloh already had a prolonged rap sheet, together with rape, assault and grand larceny costs, previous to the alleged homicide — however over a dozen costs towards him had been dropped by Descano’s staff.
Earlier than the DOJ launched its probe, Descano had been referred to as in to testify earlier than the Home Judiciary Committee for a Might 14 listening to titled: “Fairfax County, Virginia: The Harmful Penalties of Sanctuary Insurance policies.”
Descano acknowledged receipt of the DOJ’s letter on Wednesday and argued his insurance policies are simply.
“In the present day, I obtained discover of a Division of Justice investigation into my workplace concerning certainly one of our insurance policies,” he stated in a assertion. “My insurance policies are honest, authorized, and mirror the values of my group.”
