House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) got into a heated exchange with high-profile Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephen Descano, who is backed by left-wing billionaire George Soros, over his soft-on-crime policies that many critics claim allows illegal alien criminals back on the streets where they terrorize innocent citizens.
Descano, who was seated two spots away from Cheryl Minter, the mother of Stephanie Minter, who was allegedly brutally murdered by Sierra Leone national Abdul Jalloh at a bus stop located near George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Minter’s case, along with several other similar incidents, coupled with a failure by Descano and fellow witness Fairfax County Sheriff Ann Kincaid to honor ICE detainees, led to lawmakers pulling them in to testify about the deteriorating safety of the area.
Ironically, Descano once referred to the county as one of the safest in the country. Jordan got the ball rolling by pressing Kincaid on why she allowed the illegal alien suspect, Marvin Morales-Ortiz, out of her jail, saying, “Because the guy beside you wouldn’t prosecute him, right?” Kincaid replied, “You’d have to talk to him,” going on to add that a judge later ordered Morales-Ortiz to be released.
According to a report from WFIN, Jordan then turned his attention to Descano, calling into question changes to language on his website about taking immigration consequences in charging decisions into consideration. Descano responded by saying that the excerpt in question was part of a “campaign” statement and not an actual law enforcement policy.
Jordan then asked the attorney whether people should believe his campaign statements will eventually become policies should he be elected. “That’s not what I’m saying,” Descano fired back. “This is almost laughable,” Jordan remarked. “This is your policy. You said it right here. You told the voters, if you elect me, I will take into account immigration consequences when making, charging and pleading [decisions].”
Things got even more intense from there, as Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) took over questioning, resulting in an exchange that escalated to a near shouting match. Van Drew slammed sanctuary policies, including those in his home state, before turning to Minter and stating that his own condolences could not do justice to what happened to her daughter in Descano’s territory.
Van Drew then referred to the conditions in jurisdictions that have sanctuary policies as “bizarro world” and then asked Descano if communities are safer when illegal alien criminals are deported or when they are released on the streets. “Well, sir, that’s not –” Descano started to say before Van Drew interjected, saying, “Yes or no — I’m asking the questions.”
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“You’re a human being. You’re sitting next to a woman who lost her daughter. Can you tell me if illegal criminals are removed from the country; if we’re safer,” Van Drew went on to say, causing Descano to become visibly upset and fire back, “To suggest I don’t care about what happens in my community…” as more crosstalk occurred.
“D****t, answer my question,” Van Drew fumed. “Explain to the lady next to you (Cheryl Minter). Abdul Jalloh was charged in your county more than 40 times. Not four times. 40 times. Your office dropped the charges in almost every single case. That’s fact. We have it documented. We can look at it your own.” The intensity continued to build from there.
“Fairfax County Police Department wrote your office [in] May 2025 saying he had shown a, quote, ‘blatant disregard for human life and was a danger to the community’ and that if he wasn’t detained and deported, he would seriously hurt someone or kill someone,” Van Drew continued. “The very man went out and then killed someone. So the question is, couldn’t’ve we done better there?”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video