The Dangerous Consequences of Sanctuary Policies

The Congressman delivered the following opening statement at the hearing:

 

This sub-committee has 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 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 11 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: “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 has now prompted an investigation by the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.  

 

Fairfax County’s Sheriff takes a similar position: that her office “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 these officials had in their custody and refused to prosecute and refused to remove from their communities, answers that question with poignancy.  The most recent case is the tragic and needless murder of Stephanie Minter, the young lady stabbed to death as she waited for a bus.  Her accused murderer is Abdul Jalloh, illegally present in the United States.  Since 2022, Jalloh’s criminal history has included trespass, disorderly conduct, drug possession, theft, larceny, and repeated arrests for malicious wounding. Between January 2023 and February of 2026, he had been arrested at least 18 times.  Commonwealth’s Attorney Descano dismissed almost all of these charges.  At least once, Sheriff Kincaid – instead of informing ICE that he 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’s streets.  Last year, the Fairfax County Police Department became so alarmed at these decisions that they took the extraordinary step of warning Descano that Jalloh had –quote -- “stabbed multiple people, sexually assaulted at least one woman, and committed numerous other criminal offenses.” The police warned, “[I]t is not a question of if, but rather when he will maliciously wound (or worse) again.”

 

The WHEN came on February 23rd.  That’s the day this monster is accused of hacking Stephanie Minter to death.  She was 41 years old.  She leaves behind a grieving family.  

 

Sheriff Kincaid says she doesn’t have the budget to call ICE to pick up such criminals before she releases them back onto the streets.  That begs the question, “how much does a phone call to ICE cost?”  And what was the cost of not making that call to Stehanie Minter, her daughter and her family?  

 

Nor is this an isolated incident.  There is a growing list of other criminal illegal aliens who these authorities had in custody and released back onto the streets instead of making a simple phone call to ICE – please pick this person up. It includes illegal aliens who had their charges reduced or even dropped altogether, despite crimes ranging from 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.  Mr. Descano’s empty claim to be the safest city of its size in the country rings hollow against this reality.  

 

Just as 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 is 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 sub-committee 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 will soon hear their rationale.  We will hear from witnesses the Democrats have chosen in support of these policies. 

 

We will 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 will 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.

 

I look forward to hearing from our witnesses, and I now yield to the Ranking Member for her opening statement.