Fairfax County, Virginia: The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies

The subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. I want to welcome all of you here today, and particularly members of the public who have come to watch this uh hearing. Uh, but please know the public is not allowed to disrupt committee proceedings. If you disrupt today's proceedings, the Capitol Police will have to remove you from the room. and you may be subject to prosecution. Without objection, Mister Klein will be permitted to participate in today's hearing for the purpose of questioning the witnesses, if a member yields him a time for that purpose. I will now begin with opening statements. This subcommittee's become increasingly concerned with so-called sanctuary policies in which local or state law enforcement simply refuses to transfer illegal aliens who are already in their custody to federal authorities for deportation or at the very least notify federal authorities about a criminal's release. Instead, these jurisdictions release these criminals back into our communities, often with devastating consequences. The doctrine of nullification, first propounded by John C. Calhoun, holds that local or state governments may simply ignore federal laws that they disagree with. This doctrine, fatal to a federal republic, was thought to have died with the Confederacy. These nullification or sanctuary jurisdictions now extend to eleven states, coincidentally the same number as the old Confederacy. Fairfax County has become an epicenter of this movement. Its Commonwealth's attorney boasted that he, quote, "will make charging and plea decisions that limit or avoid immigration consequences." He wrote, quote, "if two people commit the same crime but only one's punishment includes deportation, that's a perversion of justice." Thus, an illegal alien would be charged with a lesser crime than an American citizen in order to protect that illegal alien from deportation. That is the true perversion of equal justice under law, and is now prompted an investigation by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. Fairfax County Sheriff takes a similar position, that her office, quote, will not detain an individual based on an informal request or detainer. Instead of safely allowing ICE to return that criminal to his own country, as federal law requires, she prefers to release him back onto her community's streets. Ironically, both claim this is to foster trust between residents and law enforcement. This begs the obvious question, can residents trust law enforcement to protect them and their families? A long list of violent crimes perpetrated by criminal illegal aliens that these officials had in their custody, and refused to prosecute and refused to remove from their communities answers this question with poignancy. The most recent case is the tragic and entirely preventable murder of Stephanie Minter. The young lady stabbed to death as she waited for a bus. Her accused murderer is Abdul Jolla, illegally present in the United States. Since twenty twenty-two, Jala's criminal history has included trespass, disorderly conduct, drug possession, theft, larceny, and repeated arrest for malicious wounding. Between January of twenty twenty-three and February of twenty twenty-six, he had been arrested at least eighteen times. Commonwealth's attorney Descarno dismissed almost all of these charges. At least once Sheriff Kincaid, instead of informing ICE that she was in custody so that he could be deported, and despite a detainer request from DHS to do so, deliberately released him back onto Fairfax County streets. Last year, the Fairfax County Police Department became so alarmed at these decisions that they took the extraordinary step of warning Descanso that Jolla had, quote, "stabbed multiple people, sexually assaulted at least one woman, and committed numerous other criminal offenses." The police then issued this grim prophecy. It is not a question of if, but rather when. He will malicious maliciously wound or worse, again. Well, the when came on February twenty third. That's the day this monster is accused of hacking Stephanie Minter to death. She was forty one years old. She leaves behind a grieving family. Now Sheriff Kincaid says she doesn't have the budget to call ICE to pick up such criminals she releases them back onto the streets. Well, that begs the question, how much does a phone call to ICE cost? And what was the cost to the Minter family of not making that call? Nor is this an isolated incident. There's a growing list of other criminal illegal aliens whose these authorities had in custody and released back onto the streets instead of making a simple phone call to ICE to pick this person up. It includes illegal aliens who had their charges reduced or even dropped altogether, despite crimes ranging from s- child sex offenses to murder. Of the seven homicides in Fairfax County last year, three were committed by illegal aliens who could have been deported before they committed these crimes. Mister Descanso's empty claimed to be the safest city of its size, and the country rings hollow against this reality. Justice Stephanie Minter's murder wasn't an isolated event in Fairfax County. Neither is Fairfax County an isolated example in our country. This utter dereliction of duty is rampant across jurisdictions the Democrats control including my state of California, where the Tulare Sheriff recently testified that fully half of the crimes he's dealing with involve illegal aliens. Yet state law forbids him from cooperating with ICE because the Democrats don't want to enforce our immigration laws, even against criminals in custody. To most Americans, these policies seem reckless, dangerous, crazy, wanton, and cruel. Today, this subcommittee seeks to understand how elected officials, entrusted with the sacred responsibility to protect innocent and law-abiding residents, would deliberately act in this manner. We'll soon hear hear their rationale. We'll hear from witnesses the Democrats have chosen in support of these policies. And we'll also hear from the former Attorney General of Virginia and the President of Virginians for Safe Communities who take a very different view. And finally, we'll hear from Stephanie's mother, who has bravely come here today to provide a victim's statement of the toll these policies have taken on her family, and who offers a grim warning to all Americans of what could happen to them at any time where these dangerous policies are practiced. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses and I now yield to the ranking member for her opening statement.

Thank you so much, Mister Chairman, and thank you to all of our witnesses for being here today. I want to start by offering my deepest condolences to you, Mrs. Mitner. Uh, as a mother myself, I just cannot imagine the pain that you are experiencing in losing your daughter far, far, far too soon. I'm sorry for your loss. Um, I also understand that we're joined by uh people from the Fairfax community today, and I wanna welcome you. If you're willing, would you please stand up if you're from Fairfax County? Wow, a lot of you, and please remain standing if you support immigrants and support policies that make sure that everyone feels safe in calling nine one one. I wanna note for the record that everyone has remained standing, and it looks to be a crowd of over fifty people, so thank you so much for for being here. Um, you may be seated. This hearing is unfortunately another in a series of hearings that the majority has held that consistently attack trust policies that have upheld the necessary and important division between the enforcement of federal civil immigration law and the enforcement of local criminal laws. This division has proven over and over again in documented research to be essential in keeping all communities and ensuring that people come forward to report crimes. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. And last year, Republicans gave the Department of Homeland Security over a hundred and seventy billion dollars in their big bad betrayal bill to meet the arbitrary immigrant arrest quotas of Stephen Miller and to carry out Donald Trump's cruel mass deportation agenda. Using this funding, ICE doubled in size, DHS officers killed two U. S. citizens in cold blood in Minnesota, beat and detained countless U. S. citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights, and broke down doors of U. S. citizens without a warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment. We know of at least one U. S. citizen who has been arrested by ICE three times, despite repeatedly informing agents that he is a U. S. citizen. Another eighteen-year-old U. S. citizen with terminal cancer spent the last weeks of his life begging ICE to release his parents so that he could see them before he died. They reunited one day before he died. And that is just what they've done to Americans. ICE is also subjecting hundreds of parents and children to months in immigration prisons, conducted senseless deportations of military veterans, separated families, massively increased immigration detention, resulting in a record forty-eight deaths in ICE detention just since President Trump took office. A recent political analysis revealed that judges have ruled in at least ten thousand cases that the detention was illegal with no due process, no opportunity for detainees to plead their cases. Ten thousand people, including a nursing mother who was separated from her one-year-old child despite active legal refugee status, and a five-year-old boy detained by ICE on his way home from school. More than four hundred and twenty-five judges have heard cases and reached the same conclusions about the illegality of Donald Trump's mass detention policies, including, by the way, a majority of Trump-appointed judges. Three circuit courts have also now ruled the policy illegal. The impact of these illegal policies is not just being felt by immigrants. It's ripping apart entire communities across the country, creating fear and terror and also negatively impacting opportunities for all Americans. A new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research just concluded that Trump's immigration raids are now even weighing on the labor market, leading to fewer jobs for US-born men without a college degree. Despite all of this, Republicans have refused to stop these illegal, unconstitutional and cruel policies. They have refused to address the fact that while their anti-immigrant strategies may have worked before, they don't work anymore. Today, more than sixty percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's immigration policies. Americans want Trump and Republicans to focus on lowering their gas prices, lowering their grocery costs. They want Republicans to stop giving tax breaks to billionaires. while stripping health care from tens of millions of Americans. But Donald Trump said it himself just a few days ago. In his own words, Trump said, quote, "I don't think about the financial situation of Americans." Really? That is exactly why Republicans are now planning to give ICE and Border Patrol an additional seventy billion dollars with no oversight or accountability, and yet having a hearing this morning to complain that Fairfax County will not do ICE's job for them. Give me a break. DHS has plenty of money to hire all the new immigration enforcement agents they want. They don't need to commandeer the local police officers who are hard at work maintaining Fairfax's status as the safest county of its size in the United States. In one of the great ironies, here we are in the immigration subcommittee having a hearing about the prosecutorial decisions of a county attorney and the jail policies of a county sheriff, whatever happened to the Republican party that believed in local government. There are many reasons that you will hear that states and localities choose not to, or un- are unable to conduct immigration enforcement on behalf of the federal government. Numerous court orders have declared immigration detainers unlawful violations of the Fourth Amendment, and state and local officials don't want to spend huge amounts of money on court cases. State constitutions often contain prohibitions, and local police departments want to prioritize their already scarce resources to encourage the trust of people to come forward and report crimes without worrying about their own immigration status. The major cities' chiefs' association has repeatedly reaffirmed that cooperation with the immigration commu- i- immigrant community is essential to solve crime and prevent further criminal activity within the entire community. including ensuring protections for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In twenty nineteen, my home state of Washington passed the bipartisan Keep Washington Working Act for all these reasons, as have many states across the country. Courts have ruled multiple times that states have the right to enact laws like the Keep Washington Working Act. These laws do allow information sharing with the federal government when necessary for an ongoing criminal investigation, or pursuant to a court order or judicial warrant. This committee should be holding hearings on the unconstitutionality of these this administration's policies, on the killing of American citizens by ICE and CBP. But instead we're doing yet another hearing, designed to further this administration's anti-immigrant agenda and distract people from the real issues at hand. The American people deserve better. I look forward to hearing from all of our witnesses today, and I yield back.

Thank you. I now recognize the Chairman of the full Judiciary Committee, Mister Jordan, for his opening statement.

Thank you, Mister Chairman. First, they let in ten million illegal migrants during the Biden administration. Second step, create sanctuary jurisdictions, which makes it tough to remove those illegal migrants, even when they commit another crime. And then third, the Democrats say, " We're not gonna fund the guys that do the removing. We're not gonna fund ICE. They shut down the government for seventy-some days." And to understand this, sanctuary jurisdiction policy in simple terms is politicians tell local law enforcement don't work with federal law enforcement when it comes to enforcing federal law and that is a situation in eighteen states eleven cities actually the other way around eighteen cities eleven states three counties and the District of Columbia but because those are big cities big states that's almost a third of the population lives in a jurisdiction where again Local law enforcement is not allowed to work with federal law enforcement to enforce federal law. Let in ten million, create sanctuary jurisdictions so it's tough to remove them, even when they commit a crime, defund ICE, but Mister Descanno takes it even a step further. He takes it a step further and says, I'm not even gonna prosecute the guys who do terrible things. I'm not gonna prosecute them, we're not gonna honor detainers, we're gonna let them out on the street. And of course, what happens when you do that? Miss Minner's gonna talk about that in a few minutes. That's what happens. Take the example, take another example, Marvin Morales Ortiz had this long rap sheet, but on September twelfth, twenty twenty five, he's arrested for malicious assault and brandishing a gun. Mister Descano says, " We're not gonna prosecute this guy." Sheriff Kincaid says, " We're not gonna honor the detainer." And they release him on December sixteenth, twenty twenty five. And what happens on December seventeenth, twenty twenty five? He kills someone. That's the consequences of this dumb, stupid, crazy policy. And again, Miss Minner's gonna talk about Stephanie Minner, the chairman talked about Abdul Jala who had this forty past charges, had all kinds of things. This this guy had been arrested and charged with multiple crimes, malicious wounding, stealing property, larceny, malicious wounding, a hundred involvements with the local police. And as the chairman pointed out, the local law enforcement told Mr. Descano's office, if you let this guy out, he's going to do something bad. It's going to be bad. And sure enough, they were right. And he stabbed and killed someone. That's the consequence. Now, here's the craziest part of all. Here's the craziest part of all. And the chairman mentioned this. Mr. Descano told us he was going to do it. He told us he was gonna do this. Statement I think the chairman read, Mister Descano's office will take immigration consequences into account when making charging and plea dec decision, excuse me. This is unbelievable. So I wanna thank the chairman. The Democrats can say all they want, and well, why don't we have another hearing? They we're having a hearing on this because this is dumbest thing we've ever heard. So I wanna thank the chairman for this hearing, and I wanna thank him for the legislation that he sponsored this committee's already passed. Sanctuary Jurisdiction Shutdown Act of twenty twenty six. And hopefully that's gonna be passed in the full house soon. Love to get that into law so we can stop what's going on in Fairfax County. With that, I yield back.

Thank you. I now recognize the ranking member of the full committee, Mister Raskin, for his opening statement.

Thank you very much, Mister Chairman. Uh, welcome to all of our witnesses. I would especially like to thank Miss Minter for coming today. There's no greater pain than the pain of losing your child. And so I thank you for having the strength, um, and the courage to speak publicly and to appear before us about, um, all of these matters today. I also want to thank the, uh, busy public officials from Virginia, uh, Sheriff Kincaid and Commonwealth's Attorney Descana. We know, uh, how busy your schedules are and we thank you for coming to be part of this, uh, process. Uh, I have family in Virginia. Not everybody in my family is in Maryland. I once spent a summer in Richmond, Virginia, uh and I feel somehow like I'm back in Virginia with all these great Virginians here, uh and we're on a mission of analyzing Virginia law and public policy today. This hearing would probably be better taking place in Richmond before the General Assembly because we're doing a deep dive into the prosecutorial and jail policy decisions of one county, Fairfax County, which was recently ranked, I noted, by the major cities' chiefs' association as the safest county of its size in the entire United States of America. So its people, its elected officials certainly do not deserve the contempt and the derision of this committee. Uh, if we were gonna super intend and scrutinize the actions taking place within the government of Virginia perhaps we should be looking at the recent decision by the Virginia State Supreme Court to overturn the express will of the people of Virginia in redistricting their congressional districts. But that investigation into an episode of extreme judicial activism might not suit the ideological purposes of the majority quite so much. The ranking member has done an excellent job of providing an overview of the problems and limitations with the particular conception of this hearing. What we have on one side is a massively funded federal bureaucracy, which just got a hundred and seventy-five billion dollars last year, accomplished by slashing funds for Medicaid, children's health insurance, rural hospitals, and so on. Uh, DHS now has a quarter of a million employees and a budget larger than that, of a hundred and fifty countries. On Earth, it has over eighty thousand sworn officers, more than the number of police officers, check this out, in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington DC, Las Vegas, and Dallas combined. And yet, despite this massive bureaucracy and this awesome budget, the administration is trying to blame the problems in immigration law and policy over which the people of Fairfax County have no control other than as citizens voting for representatives in Congress. Um, f- trying to blame these local jurisdictions, like the sheriff's office, whose annual budget is not a hundred and seventy-five billion dollars, but if the internet is correct, I just looked it up, is eighty-five million dollars, which is much less than one thousandth of the homeland security budget. And yet the federal government or Congress, rather than actually engaging in the process of studying and passing comprehensive immigration reform, prefers to bully and scapegoat local jurisdictions which are trying to deal with the failures of federal policy. Look, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have a job to do, and they should do it, and they should do it without violating the law. They should do it without violating the Constitution. They should do it without killing US citizens like Rene Good and Alex Prettie. But they have a job to do, and the government of Fairfax County has a job to do. And these public officials have a job of enforcing the criminal laws of Virginia as chosen by the people of Virginia within all of the constraints of state and federal law. Now, as I understand it, and this is what I'm interested in because I'm not familiar with what is taking place in Fairfax County or in Virginia but as I understand it ICE can come and pick up undocumented prisoners um for a period of days or weeks before they are discharged. And this has happened before and the g- the local and state government contrary to what we just heard cooperates fully with the federal government in these cases. The idea that they don't cooperate is just wrong. Um, ICE can come and pick them up before their point of discharge, and as I understand it, and I wanna hear more about this, they can pick them up at the point of discharge. Um, but Fairfax County, as I understand it, takes the position it cannot hold prisoners beyond the length and duration of their lawful sentence. And I wanna hear about that. But I'm curious, why can ICE not pick up, with its massive resources, why can they not pick up the prisoners while they are still being held? or right before they're about to be released or at the point of discharge. Um, I don't really understand that. And then, uh, again, I understand everybody is eager to beat up on Fairfax County for some reason, but in terms of the specific terrible case we're gonna talk about today, we're gonna hear about this, uh, Abdul Jaloh, the Sierra Leone national who's accused of brutally murdering Ms. Minter's daughter, Stephanie. Um, he was actually in ICE custody from two thousand eighteen through two thousand nineteen during the first Trump administration before they released him back into the public. As I understand it, I wanna get to the bottom of that report. Why was he not removed back to Sierra Leone when the Trump administration held him in two thousand eighteen, in two thousand nineteen. That is a critical question, uh, that I have, um, in terms of trying to define responsibility if all of this is just, uh, a d- a blame game that we're engaged in. It would be far more meaningful for us to be talking about comprehensive immigration reform. I think that's what Americans and Virginians are looking to Congress for. not to be scrutinizing and uh demonizing particular cities or counties around the country, which does not strike me as a very productive exercise. Nonetheless, I'm delighted to hear from all of our witnesses here, and I yield back to you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you. Without objection, all other opening statements will be included in the record, and we'll now hear from today's witnesses. We have with us today uh Miss Cheryl Minter, She's a lifelong Virginia resident. She's the mother of Stephanie Minter, the young woman who was victimized by these sanctuary policies. Uh, we have with us uh the Honorable Stacey Kincaid, who serves as sheriff for Fairfax County, Virginia. She has thirty-five years of experience working for the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office, a graduate of Langley High School in McLean, Virginia. Sheriff Kincaid received her bachelor's degree in political science and criminal justice from the Frostburg State University in nineteen eighty-seven. We have the Honorable Steven Descano, who serves as a Commonwealth's Attorney for Fairfax County, Virginia. He's served in this role since January of twenty twenty. Mister Descano earned his undergraduate degree from West Point and his JD from Temple University. Mister Sean Kennedy is President of Virginians for Safe Communities, a public safety and victims' rights advocacy non-profit, and sits on the Fairfax County Criminal Justice Advisory Board as an appointee of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. He's a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and earned a master's degree in history from the University of Cambridge. Uh, Professor Jane Stover is a professor at the University of California Irvine School of Law where she directs the domestic violence clinic and the UCI initiative to end family violence. Professor Stover earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Kansas in two thousand. She completed her JD at Harvard in two thousand three. and earned an LL M from Georgetown University in two thousand eight. Uh, Mister David Beer is the Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute. He has a BA in Political Science from Grove City College in Pennsylvania. We have with us the Honorable Jason Mayores, who served as Virginia Attorney General from twenty twenty one to twenty twenty five, and previously served in the House of Delegates. He earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from James Madison University in nineteen ninety eight. and earned his J. D. from the College of William and Mary in two thousand five. I wanna welcome all of today's witnesses, thank them for appearing, and we'll begin by swearing you in. Would you please uh rise and raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the testimony you're about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge and information, and believe so help you God. Let the record reflect the witnesses have answered in the affirmative.

Good morning. Good morning. Chairman McClintock, Chairman McClintock, Ranking Member Jay Appel and distinguished members of the subcommittee, Ranking Member Jay Appel and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. My name is Stacey Ann Kincaid, and I am the Sheriff of Fairfax County, Virginia. I was sworn in as a Deputy Sheriff in nineteen eighty seven, and I worked my way through the ranks of my agency, serving in every division with distinction. After achieving the rank of Captain, I ran for Sheriff in twenty thirteen and have since been re-elected three times with overwhelming majorities. As Sheriff, it's been an honor to serve Fairfax County. The safety and security of Fairfax County has been my absolute priority for the past thirty-eight years. I entered law enforcement to save, to serve my community and to help protect the vulnerable. I believe all those that commit crimes should be held accountable, and I sympathize with all victims of crimes. I am proud of the role my agency plays in the Fairfax County criminal justice system by ensuring the safe and orderly administration of justice. Simply put, the justice system comes to a halt without Fairfax County Sheriff's Office. We are tasked with serving every document issued by our court system, including protective orders and subpoenas. We are responsible for providing security to a courthouse and ensuring the safety of hundreds of thousands of courthouse visitors every year, including judges, victims, and witnesses. We operate a secure and humane adult detention center, and we hold certifications from the American Correctional Association, the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission, the Virginia Department of Corrections, and the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare. In addition to our accreditation, I am proud of the groundbreaking nationally recognized programs that run daily in my jail. These efforts are critical to reducing recidivism and making our community safer. The functions of my agency are carried out daily to ensure the safe and orderly administration of justice in Fairfax County. My agency is not staffed for, budgeted for, or mandated to perform the duties of the federal government. My operating budget is approved by state and local government and is allotted specifically to carry out state and local mandated functions, maintaining a safe and secure detention center, serving the civil process, and ensuring the safety of the courthouse. It is simply not the job of the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office to engage in federal immigration enforcement. Despite this, we work with ICE in significant ways. We treat them like every other law enforcement agency we interact with. They are allowed into our facility at any time. They are notified of every undocumented immigrant booked into our jail and they know their location. If there is an individual they want to take custody of, they can do so by obtaining a judicial warrant, calling to ask when the individual will be released, tracking the invid- individual's court date, or taking custody of the individual up to five days prior to their release. When ICE does call, we even coordinate high-risk transfers with ICE to ensure their safety. We have no problem with ICE conducting its lawful business, but it is their business to conduct, not ours. Fairfax County is one of the top fifty most diverse counties in the entire nation. Over thirty percent of Fairfax County's population is foreign-born, and over forty percent speaks a language other than English at home. I am the sheriff for each one of these residents of Fairfax County, no matter their national origin, native language and citizenship status, ensuring trust between the community and my agency, is a key component of effective law enforcement. To encourage all victims to put their faith in law enforcement and report crimes, a clear separation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities is of vital importance. Local law enforcement must offer a safe place for victims and witnesses to cooperate without fear of consequences. This is the only way to hold violators accountable of the law. Any violent crime or crime against children is a tragedy. Unfortunately, we live in a time when such tragedies are used for political gain. It is easy to point fingers at a time of sadness and crisis, and to look for blame for a terrible outcome. Even when everyone in the criminal justice system does their job, terrible people will do terrible things. We are doing our job by following the law and will continue to do so. Hopefully, the other agencies involved will do their jobs as well. I look forward to continuing this conversation with anyone who wishes to find real solutions devoid of politics. Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Disconnell.

Chairman McClintock, Ranking Member Jayapal, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Raskin, and distinguished members of this subcommittee. As a West Point graduate, federal prosecutor, and now the Commonwealth's Attorney for Fairfax County, Virginia, I have devoted my life to public service and public safety. I was the first in my family to graduate from college, and I was inspired by West Point's credo, of providing a lifetime of selfless service to the nation. I was first elected as Commonwealth's Attorney in twenty nineteen on a promise to adopt smart on-crime policies that prioritize the prosecution of violent crime. I'm proud of what we have accomplished. Fairfax County is one of the safest large communities anywhere in the country. The public safety of Fairfax County motivates all my work. Our office has successfully prosecuted thousands of cases, including high profile murders, sexual assaults, and other serious offenses. We've worked with our law enforcement partners to more effectively prosecute gun crimes. We expanded a diversion program for struggling veterans. And we spearheaded bipartisan statewide reforms to better protect child victims and witnesses in partnership with the Republican governor. Even in safe communities, though, crime does happen. Like the tragic murder of Stephanie Minter, whose mother, Cheryl, is here today. Miss Minter, I am deeply sorry for your loss, and I say that not only as a prosecutor, but as a parent of a daughter, I am sorry for what you are having to endure. And I promise that my office is doing everything we can to prosecute the man responsible. I've been asked to testify today about my office's policies. I welcome any conversation about how to reduce and prevent violence. Unfortunately, I expect some will instead promote a false narrative. that gets us no closer to real solutions that Americans deserve. Let me be absolutely clear. My office does not provide sanctuary or safe harbor to undocumented immigrants. In fact, we routinely prosecute immigrants who commit crimes, and we will continue to do so. Our approach to prosecution of crime has helped make Fairfax County one of the safest jurisdictions of its size in the country. Last year, we had far fewer homicides than in almost any other major jurisdiction in the United States. including in states that many members of this subcommittee represent. Serious violent crime in Fairfax County is also lower than that of most other large jurisdictions. And Fairfax residents know it's safe. A Washington Post poll found that ninety-four percent of Northern Virginia residents reported feeling safe from crime in their neighborhood. And the citizens of Fairfax County have weighed in by re-electing me with seventy-seven percent of the vote. My office also works with our federal partners to prosecute crimes. And, like many state and local prosecutors, my office has a policy of not assisting ICE with federal civil immigration enforcement. We do not have the budget or personnel to enforce federal civil immigration law, and it is simply not our job. We handle fifteen thousand criminal cases each year, with just fifty-two full-time attorneys and a limited budget. Our policy of not diverting our resources to federal immigration enforcement also makes our community safer. three in ten residents in Fairfax County are immigrants. When crimes occur, we need victims and witnesses, including members of our immigrant communities, to report those crimes and come to court to testify. If victims and witnesses believe my office will report them or their neighbors to ICE, they will not trust us. And they will not provide the testimony we need to obtain convictions and get justice. It is justice that my office is now seeking by prosecuting the defendant Abdul Jallow. in the tragic murder of Stephanie Minter. The system failed Miss Minter, and we should all look for ways we can prevent tragedies like this in the future. That starts with understanding the facts. The defendant was well known by ICE as early as twenty eighteen, when ICE held him in custody for nearly two years during the first Trump administration, only to release him into the community. After that, my office worked closely w- with law enforcement to prosecute him and obtain convictions for his crime wherever possible and despite challenges in those cases. We are fully committed to holding the defendant accountable in this case. As a local prosecutor, I will continue to focus on my job prosecuting defendants who commit crimes in Fairfax County. In carrying out that role, my office makes case decisions based on the law, the evidence in the case, the interests of the victim, and in service of seeking justice and keeping our community safe. Thank you for having me, and I welcome your questions.

Thank you for your testimony. Uh, we'll next hear from the former

Mr. Chairman, ranking member, members of the subcommittee, before I say anything else, I want to acknowledge the woman seated with us today, Miss Cheryl Mentor, the mother of Stephanie. She has agreed to share her story with this committee and there is no one braver in this room. I will let her speak to what she has lost. But what I want to give you is the context Because what happened to Stephanie did not have to happen in this vacuum. Now, I come to the immigration issue personally. My mother fled Communist Cuba, literally penniless and homeless, and not knowing where her next meal was going to come from. She came to this country legally, stood in line, filled out the forms, and did everything the right way because she believed in the rule of law and the promise of America. She left behind everything because she knew she wanted to come here the right way. That's what legal immigration looks like. I'm the son of a legal immigrant. I believe in immigration deeply. But what I do not believe in, what I cannot accept, is a system that extends preferential treatment to those who break our laws at the direct expense of the American citizens whose laws are supposed to protect. And in Fairfax County, Virginia, that is precisely what happened, not once, not twice, repeatedly. Cheryl will tell you about Stephanie. And members of this committee, I want you to understand that Stephanie Minter is not an isolated tragedy. She is the most recent and visible name in a documented and ongoing pattern of preventable crimes, a pattern with a single common cause, the sanctuary policies of Fairfax County. In December two thousand twenty-five, a man was shot and killed inside his own home in Reston one day after Marvin Fernando Morales-Ortiz a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador was released from jail despite an active ICE detainer. He had prior arrest for aggravated assault of a police officer. Fairfax refused to hold him. He killed a man the very next day. A single phone call from Fairfax to ICE would have saved this man's life. In November two thousand twenty-four, a woman was raped on a hiking trail in Herden, Virginia, just days after her attacker was released from jail following a felony assault charge reduction. made without ever consulting the police. The ICE detainer was ignored. She became the next victim. A four-year-old girl was nearly abducted in the middle of the night by an illegal alien who broke into her bedroom. Charges were reduced progressively over eighteen months down to a misdemeanor, then dropped entirely. In July two thousand twenty-four, two illegal aliens stabbed a man to death at a park in Oakton. ICE had lodged multiple detainers on one of the suspects that Fairfax County had refused to honor. he was released back to the community. Then he killed. In the last several weeks, girls as young as thirteen were groped repeatedly in the hallways of a Fairfax County high school by an illegal alien enrolled as a student at age nineteen. ICE asked that he be held, Fairfax refused. Same county, same prosecutor, same policy, over and over again. Members, this is not incompetence, this is not coincidence, this is policy. Commonwealth's Attorney Descarno publishes it on his own website. His office's formal written policy states that prosecutors prosecutors shall, whenever possible, make charging and plea decisions that, quote, " limit or avoid immigration consequences." That's not prosecutorial discretion. That is discrimination against American citizens in favor of those here illegally who commit additional crime. That is why the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund petitioned the Department of Justice which earlier this month has opened a civil rights investigation to Mister Descano's office, arguing that his policies violate the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment. Let me be clear about the law. Immigration is not a shared power with states, it belongs exclusively to the federal government. And federal law expressly prohibits state and local governments from restricting communication with federal immigration authorities. Fairfax County's policies do exactly that. This is not non-cooperation, this is a deliberate choice to put a violent criminal back on the street. We know what works because Virginia approved it under Governor Glenn Youngkin. His executive order forty-seven established a state immigration task force. And within eight weeks, over a hundred and thirty gang members were picked up, including the East Coast leader of MS thirteen, living freely in Prince William County. He was captured. He, Virginia was called the national model. Our new governor, Spanberger, dismantled it. Her first day in office, she signed executive order one, ending state cooperation with ICE, just nineteen days before Stephanie Minter was killed. She now has a bill on her desk that would prohibit every jurisdiction in Virginia from cooperating with ICE. I think we all know what she will do. Government's first and most fundamental duty is to protect the people it governs. Sanctuary policies represent a catastrophic and willful failure of that duty. My mother came to this country because she believed the law would protect her. Cheryl Minter believed the same thing. Stephanie Minter deserved. The same thing. And Virginians are paying the price. I'm asking this committee to make this stop. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I welcome the committee's questions.

Thank you for your testimony. We'll next hear from Professor Stover.

Chairman, Ranking Member, and distinguished members, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Jane Stover and I'm a Law Professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. first taught at Georgetown in American, directing domestic violence clinics for over twenty years now. Today's hearing was prompted by an unthinkable tragedy, and I extend my deepest condolences to Miss Sheryl Minter for the loss of her daughter, Stephanie Minter. All victims deserve safety and justice, and many have been failed by the systems that purport to help them. I'll be direct, though. Focusing on immigration enforcement as the solution to violence against women, is rooted in false narratives, not facts. Contrary to the premise of this hearing, sanctuary policies aren't obstacles to public safety; they're essential to it. Study after study, including by criminologist Shares Kubrin, shows that immigrants commit fewer crimes. And law enforcement leaders have warned that when survivors fear the police, crimes go unreported and communities become less safe. As co-chair of my county's domestic Violence Death Review team, I can assure you, preventing abuse prevents fatalities. Policies that allow survivors to seek help without fear, to call the police without fear, save lives, and improve community safety. I urge this committee to focus on the real solutions to preventing and responding to violence against women, because I see my clients' safety further jeopardized now. Immigrant women in the United States face a lifetime risk of domestic violence as high as forty-nine point eight percent. That's three times the national average. And sixty percent of immigrant women married to US citizens experience immigration-related abuse. Survivors need protection but face a catch-twenty-two, remain in danger, or risk deportation. Immigration enforcement has exponentially increased as Congress has allocated one hundred and seventy billion dollars in plans to add seventy billion more ICE agents have daily arrest targets and are now empowered to stop, arrest, and detain people on the basis of race, language, location, and employment. And immigrant survivors are being swept up. In this context, the Alliance for Immigrant Survivors surveyed over one hundred and seventy advocates and attorneys nationwide. Their findings are alarming. Over three quarters of immigrant survivors have concerns about contacting the police. Seventy percent fear attending any court hearings, and half ultimately chose not to contact the police or to go to court for abuse. In Virginia, Fairfax County law enforcement report rising numbers of victims withdrawing complaints. Survivors are avoiding courthouses, food banks, prenatal care, and shelters due to ICE raids, and are arranging for third parties to take custody of their children, should they be deported. At the same time, legal protections are being dismantled. Over thirty years ago, Congress enshrined protections for immigrants in the Violence Against Women Act with bipartisan support, and then passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act, Protection Act. But today, survivors with pending and even approved petitions are being detained and removed. USCIS backlogs of VALIS self-petitions and lifesaving TNU visas compound the crisis, with U visas taking over a decade to grant now. One of my clients married a US citizen, but fled life-threatening abuse during pregnancy, only to be ordered removed unless she could prove successful adjudication of her vow of self-petition in one month's time. But USCIS processing times are over four years currently. We expedited her case and await the decision on appeal. She is not the danger this administration or this hearing purport to address, yet she has been made a target. And I shudder to think what would happen if she didn't have an attorney. To seriously address crime victim safety, I respectfully urge Congress to one, reject section two eighty-seven G agreements, which harmfully entangle local police with federal immigration enforcement. To prohibit enforcement actions at courthouses, abuse shelters, and medical facilities, the places we want people to seek help. Three, to bar ICE from detaining or removing individuals with pending survivor-based claims, as was c- Congress's original intent, for to restore VAWA, UN TV_s, and protections, and public benefits to fund USCIS staffing and increase the annual caps. Finally, in contrast to the hundreds of billions of dollars for immigration enforcement, two hundred million in federal victim services grants is sitting unspent, which should be immediately distributed to provide life-saving services to survivors and those organizations including in Virginia. Please stay focused on survivor safety and act with urgency to restore and strengthen vital safeguards. Thank you.

Thank you. Next chair for Mr. Beer.

Chairman, uh, Clinton talk, uh, Ranking Member Jayapal, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. For half a century, the Cato Institute's research has shown that people, whatever their ancestry, background, or birthplace, can thrive in a free society. Our research finds that immigrants, legal and illegal, work at higher rates, generate more income and taxes, and have reduced the national debt by fourteen and a half trillion dollars over the last thirty years. Immigrants improve public safety by reducing violent crime rates, meaning that you are less likely to become a victim. Fairfax highlights this reality. About half the county's residents are immigrants or children of immigrants. Its household im- income is double the national average. Its murder rate is less than half the average. If illegal immigrants in Fairfax were their own city, they'd have a lower homicide rate than ninety percent of America's largest cities and lower than the country's homicide rate overall. Nationwide, illegal immigrants are half as likely to commit serious crimes for which they're serving time as US-born Americans. Despite all this, Congress refuses to allow most would-be immigrants to come legally, which leads to illegal immigration. Just three percent of all the people seeking permanent legal status in the United States were approved in twenty twenty four. That was before the current administration banned a majority of the legal immigrants previously allowed to come, including half of all the spouses of US citizens. It has cut legal immigration twice as much as it has cut illegal immigration. At the same time, it terminated legal status for over two million immigrants who were already here, creating four times as many illegal immigrants as it has deported. America's cities must manage the fallout from this sabotaged system. Many have decided not to volunteer their cops, jails, and resources to DHS. DHS doesn't like that. But under our constitution, cities and states don't take orders from the feds. And thank James Madison for that. Because we all know we wouldn't want the feds to dictate environmental policy, gun policy, or COVID policy to the states. If you want Fairfax to change its policies, You gotta convince them. The first step would be to give up on the mass deportation fantasy. About one in five Fairfax residents is someone who could be deported or who lives with them. It would destroy neighborhoods, rip Americans away from their spouses, parents, friends, families, customers, employees, employers, nurses, nannies, and teachers. Let me be clear. Non-citizens who harm Americans should be arrested, convicted, and deported. I think cities can help with that. But deportation is DHS's job. Indeed, you all pa- passed the Lakin-Riley Act in twenty twenty five to require DHS to immediately take custody of people charged with violence or theft. DHS is ignoring that law. It has deprioritized threats to focus on easy targets, They aren't tracking down the serious cr- criminal fugitives, like the monster who killed Stephanie Minter. Instead, DHS agents are racially profiling Americans at home depots, arresting spouses of US citizens at green card interviews, beating parents of US Marines and dragging legal immigrants and US citizens from their homes without warrants. Only six percent of ICE arrests have a violent criminal conviction. ICE has arrested one hundred and fifty thousand people who have no criminal convictions or even charges, and we know it's not because they got everyone with a serious record. Stephanie's case and many others prove that. It's because they care about, as one ICE agent put it, "quantity over quality." How many Stephanees will get murdered before DHS follows the law? and prioritizes serious criminals. How many? Most Americans don't want to wait for the answer. They want to pause the mass deportation fantasy and focus on public safety. That's the only policy that will defend our safety, our prosperity, and our freedom. Thank you.