▶ 0:19:38The 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 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, Mr.
▶ 0:20:06Klein will be permitted to participate in today's hearing for the purpose of questioning the witnesses if a member yields him time for that purpose. We'll 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
▶ 0:20:37federal authorities about a criminal's release. Instead, these jurisdictions release these criminals back into our communities, often with devastating 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.
▶ 0:21:04These 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 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." End quote.
▶ 0:21:33Thus, an illegal alien would be charged with a lesser crime than an American citizen in order to protect that illegal alien from 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 Sheriff takes a similar position that her office quote will not detain an individual based on an informal request or detainer.
▶ 0:22:00Instead 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 streets. Ironically, both claim this is to foster trust between residents and law enforcement.
▶ 0:22:16This begs the obvious question, can residents trust law enforcement to protect them and their 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 poignency. The most recent case is the tragic and entirely preventable murder of Stephanie Mentor, the young lady stabbed to death as she waited for a bus.
▶ 0:22:45Her accused murderer is Abdul Jolah, illegally present in the United States. Since 2022, Jolah's criminal history has included trespass, disorderly conduct, drug possession, theft, lararseny, and repeated arrest for malicious wounding. Between January of 2023 and February of 2026, he had been arrested at least 18 Commonwealth's attorney Dano dismissed almost all of these charges.
▶ 0:23:14At least once, Sheriff Concincaid, 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.
▶ 0:23:29Last year, the Fairfax County Police Department became so alarmed at these decisions that they took the extraordinary step of warning Discono that Jolola 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 [clears throat] he will maliciously wound or worse again.
▶ 0:24:00Well, the when came on February 23rd. That's the day this monster is accused of hacking Stephanie Men to death. She was 41 years old. She leaves behind a grieving family. Now, Sheriff Concincaid says she doesn't have the budget to call ICE to pick up such criminals before 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 Midter family of not making that call?
▶ 0:24:31Nor 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 child sex offenses to murder.
▶ 0:24:54Of 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. Disconso's empty claim to be the safest city of its size in the country rings hollow against this reality. Just as Stephanie Mentor's murder wasn't an isolated event in Fairfax County, neither is Fairfax County an isolated example in our country.
▶ 0:25:22This utter derelction of duty is rampant across jurisdictions of the Democrats control, including my state of California, where the Tary 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.
▶ 0:25:45To most Americans, these policies seem reckless, dangerous, crazy, wanting, and 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 will soon hear their rationale. We'll hear from witnesses the Democrats have chosen in support of these policies.
▶ 0:26:13And we'll also hear from the former attorney general of Virginia and the president of Virginiaians 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.
▶ 0:26:44Thank you so much, Mr. 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. Mittner. Uh, as a mother myself, I just cannot imagine the pain that you are experiencing and 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 want to welcome you. If you're willing, would you please stand up if you're from Fairfax County?
▶ 0:27:18Wow, a lot of you. And please remain standing if you support immigrants and support policies that make sure that everyone feels safe in calling 911. I want to note for the record that everyone has remained standing and it looks to be a crowd of over 50 people. So, thank you so much for for being here. Um, you may be seated.
▶ 0:27:38This 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 safe and ensuring that people come forward to report crimes. Immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility.
▶ 0:28:09And last year, Republicans gave the Department of Homeland Security over $170 billion dollar in their big bad betrayal bill to meet the arbitrary immigrant arrest quotas of Steven Miller and to carry out Donald Trump's cruel mass deportation agenda. Using this funding, ICE doubled in size.
▶ 0:28:29DHS officers killed two US citizens in cold blood in Minnesota, beat and detained countless US citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights, and broke down doors of US citizens without a warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment. We know of at least one US citizen who has been arrested by ICE three times despite repeatedly informing agents that he is a US citizen.
▶ 0:28:56Another 18-year-old US 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.
▶ 0:29:12ICE 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 48 deaths in ICE detention just since President Trump took office.
▶ 0:29:33A recent political analysis revealed that judges have ruled in at least 10,000 cases that the detention was illegal with no due process, no opportunity for detainees to plead their cases. 10,000 people, including a nursing mother who was separated from her one-year-old child despite active legal refugee status and a 5-year-old boy detained by ICE on his way home from school.
▶ 0:30:02More than 425 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.
▶ 0:30:25It'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.
▶ 0:30:50Despite 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 60% of Americans disapprove of Trump's immigration policies. Americans want Trump and Republicans to focus on lowering their gas prices, lowering their grocery costs.
▶ 0:31:18They 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 70 billion dollars with no oversight or accountability.
▶ 0:31:46and yet having a hearing this morning to complain that Fairfax County will not do ISIS'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.
▶ 0:32:09In 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 are unable to conduct immigration enforcement on behalf of the federal government.
▶ 0:32:36Numerous 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.
▶ 0:33:03The major city's chief's association has repeatedly reaffirmed that cooperation with the immigration commu 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 2019, my home state of Washington passed the bipartisan Keep Washington Working Act.
▶ 0:33:27For 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.
▶ 0:33:50This 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
▶ 0:34:19Thank you. I now recognize the chairman of the full judiciary committee, Mr. Jordan, for his opening statement.
▶ 0:34:24Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First, they let in 10 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 going to fund the guys that do the removing. We're not going to fund ICE. They shut down the government for 70ome days.
▶ 0:34:46And 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 the situation in 18 states, 11 cities, actually the other way around. 18 cities, 11 states, three counties, and the District of Columbia.
▶ 0:35:06But because those are big cities, big states, that's almost a third of the population lives in a jurisdiction where local law enforcement is not allowed to work with federal law enforcement to enforce federal law. Let in 10 million, create sanctuary jurisdiction, so it's tough to remove them even when they commit a crime, defund ICE. But Mr. Dano takes it even a step further.
▶ 0:35:33He takes it a step further and says, "I'm not even going to prosecute the guys who do terrible things. I'm not going to prosecute them. We're not going to honor detainers. We're going to let them out on the street." And of course, what happens when you do that? Miss Mer is going to talk about that in a few minutes. That's what happens. Take the example. Take another example. Marvin Morales Ortiz had this long wrap sheet, but on September 12th, 2025, he's arrested for malicious assault and brandishing a gun. Mr.
▶ 0:36:03Dano says, "We're not going to prosecute this guy." Sheriff King Kaid says, "We're not going to honor the detainer." And they release him on December 16th, 2025. And what happens on December 17th, 2025? He kills someone. That's the consequences of this dumb, stupid, crazy And again, [clears throat] Miss Men is going to talk about Stephanie Men.
▶ 0:36:30The chairman talked about Abdul Jala who had this 40 past charges had all kinds of things. This this guy had been arrested and charged with multiple crimes, malicious wounding, stealing property, lararseny, trespass, disorderly conduct, malicious wounding, 100 involvements with the local police. And as the chairman pointed out, the local law enforcement told Mr. Dano'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.
▶ 0:36:59and 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. Dano told us he was going to do it. He told us he was going to do this. The statement I think the chairman read, "Mr. Dano's office will take immigration consequences into account when making charging and plea decisions." Excuse me. This is unbelievable. So, I want to thank the chairman. The Democrats can say all they want. Well, why are we having another hearing?
▶ 0:37:29We're having a hearing on this because this is the dumbest thing we've ever heard. So, I want to thank the chairman for this hearing and I want to thank him for the legislation that he sponsored. This committee has already passed sanctuary jurisdiction shutdown act of 2026 and hopefully that's going to 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
▶ 0:37:51Thank you. I now recognize the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Raskin, for his opening statement.
▶ 0:37:56Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Uh, welcome to all of our witnesses. I would especially like to thank Miss Mter 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 Concincaid and Commonwealth Attorney Discono.
▶ 0:38:25We 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 Virginiaians here. Uh and we're on a mission of analyzing Virginia law and public policy today.
▶ 0:38:52This 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 chief's association as the safest county of its size in the entire United States of America.
▶ 0:39:16So its people, its elected officials certainly do not deserve the contempt and the derision of this committee. Uh if we were going to 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.
▶ 0:39:43But 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.
▶ 0:40:05What we have on one side is a massively funded federal bureaucracy which just got $175 billion 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 in a budget larger than that of 150 countries on Earth.
▶ 0:40:32It has over 80,000 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.
▶ 0:40:49And yet, despite this massive bureaucracy and this awesome budget, the administration is trying to blame the in immigration law and policy over which the people of Fairfax County have no control other than as citizens voting for representatives in Congress.
▶ 0:41:14um trying to blame these local jurisdictions like the sheriff's office whose annual budget is not $175 billion but if the internet is correct I just looked it up is $85 million which is much less than $1,000th of the homeland security budget and yet the federal government or congress rather than actually engaging in the of
▶ 0:41:45studying 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 Renee Good and Alex Prey.
▶ 0:42:13But 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.
▶ 0:42:32Now, 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 um for a period of days or weeks before they are discharged. And this has happened before.
▶ 0:42:55and the 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 want to hear more about this, they can pick them up at the point of discharge.
▶ 0:43:21Um, 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 want to hear about that. But I'm curious, why can I not pick up with its massive resources, why can they not pick up the prisoners while they are still being or right before they're about to be released or at the point of discharge?
▶ 0:43:50Um, 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 going to talk about today, we're going to hear about this uh, Abdul Jalo, the Sierra Leone National, who's accused of brutally murdering Miss Mter's daughter, Stephanie.
▶ 0:44:19Um, he was actually in ICE custody from 2018 through 2019 during the first Trump administration before they released him back into the public. As I understand it, I want to get to the bottom of that report. Why was he not removed back to Sierra Leone when the Trump administration held him in 2018, in 2019?
▶ 0:44:47That is a critical question uh that I have um in terms of trying to define responsibility. If all of this is just uh a blame game that we're engaged in, it would be far more meaningful for us to be talking about comprehensive immigration reform.
▶ 0:45:07I think that's what Americans and Virginiaians are looking to Congress 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, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 0:45:33Thank 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 Miss Cheryl Mter. She's a lifelong Virginia resident. She's the mother of Stephanie Mentor, the young woman who is victimized by these sanctuary policies. We have with us uh the Honorable Stacy Concincaid who serves as sheriff for Fairfax County, Virginia. She has 35 years of experience working for the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office. A graduate of Langley High School in Mlan, Virginia.
▶ 0:46:02Sheriff Concincaid received her bachelor's degree in political science and criminal justice from the Frostber State University in 1987. We have the Honorable Steven Dano who serves as a Commonwealth attorney for Fairfax County, Virginia. He served in this role since January of 2020. Mr. Dano earned his undergraduate degree from West Point and his JD from Temple University. Mr.
▶ 0:46:26Shan Kennedy is president of Virginiaians for Safe Communities, a public safety and victim's rights advocacy nonprofit 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.
▶ 0:46:46Uh, Professor Jane Stove 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 Stove earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Kansas in 2000. She completed her JD at Harvard in 2003 and earned an LLM from Georgetown University in 2008. Mr. David Beer is the director of immigration studies at the Ko Institute.
▶ 0:47:17He has a [snorts] 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 2021 to 2025 and previously served in the House of Delegates. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from James Madison University in 1998 and earned his JD from the College of William and Mary in 2005. I want to welcome all of today's witnesses, thank them for appearing, and we'll begin by swearing you in.
▶ 0:47:45Would 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 belief? So, help you God. Let the record reflect the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. Thank you, and you may be seated. Uh we know that your written testimony will be entered um in the uh record in its entirety.
▶ 0:48:13Accordingly, we'll ask that you summarize your testimony in five minutes. Uh and we'll begin with Sheriff Good morning, Chairman Mcccleintoch, Ranking Member Japal, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. My name is Stacy Anne Concincaid and I am the sheriff of Fairfax County, Virginia.
▶ 0:48:38I was sworn in as a deputy sheriff in 1987 and I work 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 2013 and have since been reelected 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 38 years.
▶ 0:49:04I 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.
▶ 0:49:25Simply put, the justice system comes to a halt without Fairfax County Sheriff's 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.
▶ 0:49:48We 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.
▶ 0:50:15The 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 civil process, and ensuring the safety of the courthouse.
▶ 0:50:42It 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.
▶ 0:51:05If 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 individ individual's court date, or taking custody of the individual up to 5 days prior to their release. When ICE does call, we even coordinate high-risisk 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.
▶ 0:51:32Fairfax County is one of the top 50 most diverse counties in the entire nation. Over 30% of Fairfax County's population is foreign born and over 40% 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.
▶ 0:51:58To 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 a crime against children is a tragedy. Unfortunately, we live in a time when such tragedies are used for political gain.
▶ 0:52:26It 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.
▶ 0:52:54Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Chairman Mcccleintoch, Ranking Member Gyipal, Chairman Jordan, Ranking Member Rascin, and distinguished members of this subcommittee. As a West Point graduate, federal prosecutor, and now the Commonwealth 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.
▶ 0:53:24I was first elected as Commonwealth attorney in 2019 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.
▶ 0:53:51We'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 Mter, whose mother, Cheryl, is here today. And Miss Mter, I am deeply sorry for your loss.
▶ 0:54:18And 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 I've been asked to testify today about my office's policies. I welcome any conversation about how to reduce and prevent violence.
▶ 0:54:44Unfortunately, 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.
▶ 0:55:11Last 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 94% of Northern Virginia residents reported feeling safe from crime in their neighborhood. And the citizens of Fairfax County have weighed in by reelecting me with 77% of the vote.
▶ 0:55:41My office also works with our fed federal partners to prosecute 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.
▶ 0:55:59We handle 15,000 criminal cases each year with just 52 full-time attorneys and a limited Our policy of not diverting our resources to federal immigration enforcement also makes our community safer. Three in 10 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.
▶ 0:56:25If 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 Jalo in the tragic murder of Stephanie Mter. The system failed, Miss Mter, and we should all look for ways we can prevent tragedies like this in the future. That starts with understanding the facts.
▶ 0:56:53The defendant was well known by ICE as early as 2018 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 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.
▶ 0:57:24In carrying out that role, my office makes case decisions based on the law, the evidence in the case, the interests of the victim, and its service of seeking justice and keeping our community safe. Thank you for having me and I welcome your questions.
▶ 0:57:39Thank you for your testimony. We'll next hear from the former attorney general of the state of Virginia, uh, the Honorable Jason Mayares. 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.
▶ 0:58:07But 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.
▶ 0:58:34She 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.
▶ 0:59:04Not once, not twice, repeatedly. Cheryl will tell you about Stephanie. But members of this committee, I want you to understand that Stephanie Mentor 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 2025, a man was shot and killed inside his own home in Reston.
▶ 0:59:32One 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 2024, a woman was raped on a hiking trail in Herden, Virginia.
▶ 1:00:00Just 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 4-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 18 months down to a misdemeanor, then dropped entirely. In July 2024, two illegal aliens stabbed stabbed a man to death at a park in Oakton.
▶ 1:00:29ICE had lodged multiple detainers on one of the suspects that Fairfax County had refused to honor. He was released back into the community. Then he killed. In the last several weeks, girls as young as 13 were groped repeatedly in the hallways of a Fairfax County high school by an illegal alien enrolled as a student at age 19. ICE asked that he beheld. Fairfax refused. Same county, same prosecutor, same policy over and over again.
▶ 1:00:59Members, this is not incompetence. This is not coincidence. This is policy. Commonwealth attorney Disconano publishes it on his own website. His office's formal written policy states that prosecutor 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.
▶ 1:01:25That is why the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund petitioned the Department of Justice, which early this month has opened a civil rights investigation into Mr. Dano's office, arguing that his policies violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Let me be clear about the law. Immigration is not a shared power with states. It belonged 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.
▶ 1:01:56This is not non-ooperation. 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 Yncan. His executive order 47 established a state immigration task force. Within 8 weeks, over 130 gang members were picked up, including the East Coast leader of MS-13, living freely in Prince William County. He was captured. Virginia was called the national model.
▶ 1:02:24Our new governor, Spamberger, dismantled it. Her first day in office, she signed Executive Order One, ending state cooperation with ICE, just 19 days before Stephanie Mentor 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.
▶ 1:02:54Cheryl Mentor believed the same thing. Stephanie Mentor deserved the same thing. And Virginiaians are paying the price. I'm asking this committee to make this stop. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I welcome the committee's questions.
▶ 1:03:07Thank you for your testimony. Okay, we'll next hear from Professor Stove.
▶ 1:03:17Chairman, ranking member, and distinguished members, thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Jane Stove, and I'm a law professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, having first taught at Georgetown and American, directing domestic violence clinics for over 20 years now. Today's hearing was prompted by an unthinkable tragedy and I extend my deepest condolences to Miss Cheryl Mentor for the loss of her daughter, Stephanie Mentor.
▶ 1:03:43All 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.
▶ 1:04:08Study after study, including by criminologist Charis Kubran, 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.
▶ 1:04:24As co-chair of my county's domestic violence death review team, I can assure you preventing abuse prevents 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. down.
▶ 1:04:50Immigrant women in the United States face a lifetime risk of domestic violence as high as 49.8%. That's three times the national average. And 60% of immigrant women married to US citizens experience immigration related abuse. Survivors need protection but face a catch 22. Remain in danger or risk deportation.
▶ 1:05:13Immigration enforcement has exponentially increased as Congress has allocated $170 billion and plans to add 70 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 170 advocates and attorneys nationwide. Their findings are alarming.
▶ 1:05:44Over 3/4ers of immigrant survivors have concerns about contacting the police. 70% 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 courouses, 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.
▶ 1:06:14At the same time, legal protections are being Over 30 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 vowel self petitions and life-saving TNU visas compound the crisis with U visas taking over a decade to grant.
▶ 1:06:44Now, 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.
▶ 1:07:14Yet, 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 287g agreements, which harmfully entangle local police with federal immigration enforcement. to prohibit enforcement actions at courouses, abuse shelters, and medical facilities, the places we want people to seek help.
▶ 1:07:39Three, to bar ICE from detaining or removing individuals with pending survivor-based claims, as was Congress's original intent. Four, to restore VAWA, U and TV visa protections and public benefits to fund USCIS staffing and increase the annual caps.
▶ 1:07:55Finally, in contrast to the hundreds of billions of dollars for immigration enforcement, 200 million in federal victim services grants is sitting unspent, which should be immediately distributed to provide life-saving services to survivors in those organizations, including in Virginia. Please stay focused on survivor safety and act with urgency to restore and strengthen vital safeguards. Thank you.
▶ 1:08:22Thank you. Next year for Mr. here. Chairman Clint, ranking member Gyipol, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify. For half a century, the Kato Institute's research has shown that people, whatever their ancestry, background, or birthplace, can thrive in a free society.
▶ 1:08:41Our research finds that immigrants, legal and illegal, work at higher rates, generate more income and taxes, and have reduced the national debt by 14.5 trillion dollars over the last 30 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.
▶ 1:09:09Its 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 90% 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.
▶ 1:09:38Despite all this, Congress refuses to allow most wouldbe immigrants to come legally, which leads to illegal immigration. Just 3% of all the people seeking permanent legal status in the United States were approved in 2024. 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.
▶ 1:10:08It has cut legal immigration twice as much as it has cut illegal immigration. At the same time, it terminated legal status for over 2 million immigrants who were already here, creating four times as many illegal immigrants as it has America's cities must manage the fallout from this sabotaged system.
▶ 1:10:35Many 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 got to convince them.
▶ 1:11:06The 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.
▶ 1:11:36I think cities can help with that. But deportation is DHS's job. Indeed, you all p passed the Lake Riley Act in 2025 to require DHS to immediately take custody of people charged with violence or a theft. DHS is ignoring that law. It has threats to focus on easy targets.
▶ 1:12:02They aren't tracking down the serious c criminal fugitives like the monster who killed Stephanie Mter. Instead, DHS agents are racially profiling Americans at Home Depot, 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 6% of ICE arrests have a violent criminal conviction.
▶ 1:12:32ICE has arrested 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 Stephanies will get murdered before DHS follows the law and prioritizes serious criminals?
▶ 1:13:03How 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. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 1:13:27Thank you, Chair.
▶ 1:13:30Thank you, chairman, ranking member, and members of this committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify. My name is Sean Kennedy, president of Virginiaians for Safe Communities, a Fairfax-based public safety and victim's rights advocacy group, and I'm an appointed member of the Fairfax County Criminal Justice Advisory Board. I'm going to get straight to the point. Anyone who is in the United States without legal status, any violent criminal, should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
▶ 1:13:58And if they don't have legal status, they should be deported. Full Those aren't my words. That was Governor Abigail Spamberger yesterday. But in Fairfax County, neither of those things are happening. First, Fairfax Chief Prosecutor Steve Dano does not prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.
▶ 1:14:18In fact, one of his former prosecutors told me, "Every time I hear Dano say community values, I cringe because we should be following the law, not his In fact, he openly flouts the law, ordering his prosecutors to seek lighter sentences for violent criminals and sex offenders, including murderers and child rapists. Second, Mr. Dano boasts that he chooses which charges to bring and what sentences to seek based on who the offender is.
▶ 1:14:48Being illegally present earns an offender preferential treatment. But that grace is not afforded to those who need it the most. Something that uh the professor just spoke about, victims. And make no mistake, the vast majority of criminal aliens victims are themselves immigrants. They too deserve justice. They too deserve safety. They too deserve dignity. But Mr.
▶ 1:15:12Dano has shown a callous disregard for them and their rights, our laws, and our public safety. That is wrong and that is illegal, and it has appalling consequences. At 4:00 in the morning on June 15th, 2023, a mother woke to the screams of her four-year-old girl from the next room. A man had broken in through the bedroom window and carried off the toddler, committing with burglary with the intent to rape. According to the police, he was well known to the police and Mr.
▶ 1:15:42Dano. He was Hyram Bakadeno Rodriguez, a Honduran national. In 2021, two years before, Bakadeno Rodriguez was arrested for multiple incidents of indecent liberties with a child. Each of the three counts carried up to 10 years in prison under Virginia law. But Mr. Discono, who directs his prosecutors to avoid immigration consequences, reduced the charges. Despite committing a break-in while awaiting sentencing, Dano agreed to a six-month sentence for prior crimes.
▶ 1:16:11He was quickly arrested again for burglary to commit a felony, punishable by 20 years, but that was reduced to property damage. More arrests, probation violations, and drop charges followed. He walked free and went fugitive. In 18 months, Bakadeno Rodriguez racked up five arrests and 23 charges, requiring him to spend the rest of his life in the Virginia Department of Corrections. But Mr. Dano's policies prohibited that.
▶ 1:16:38It stated that his deputies must make plea officers that avoid the legislatively mandated minimum jail sentence. So, a criminal alien was free to abduct a sleeping little girl. Somehow this parents worst nightmare, in the words of Judge Randy Bellows, got worse when Mr. Dano gave the kidnapper a plea deal for less than two years in prison. An outraged Judge Bellows rejected the plea agreement, saying the only way to protect the community is a lengthy period of incarceration.
▶ 1:17:08When the same deal came before Judge Susan J. Stony the next year, she too was incredulous. The court is concerned about the severity of the crime. The fact the defendant's criminal history indicates a record of other involvement with minors and that the potential sentence here in this case is too lenient. The court has grave concern in the interest of public safety. In a vindictive and petty move, Mr. Dano then dropped all of the charges. The little girl's family was beside themselves.
▶ 1:17:37He was set to be released within hours. denied justice by the same man charged with protecting the innocent. Their little girl and the public, that family had to act. The little girl's grandmother, Natalie, called the ICE hotline and said, "I gave them all the information I had to the person on the other end. When ICE arrested him as he walked out, she said, "It was a sigh of relief.
▶ 1:18:01According to the girl's mother, Christy, God protected my little girl, but who is going to protect the next one?" Certainly [snorts] not Mr. Dano. And sadly, since he has become Commonwealth attorney, this case is not the exception. It is the rule. Under Mr. Dano, it is policy. Fairfax's chief prosecutor has chosen to sacrifice victims on the altar of ideology.
▶ 1:18:27Hundreds, if not thousands of violent and sex crimes should never have happened if Mr. Dano followed the law, not his values. In shielding criminal aliens, Mr. Discono shows a depraved indifference to human suffering. That is not compassion. It is cruelty. That is not compassion. It is cruelty. Thank
▶ 1:18:48Thank you for your testimony. We'll finally hear from uh Miss Cheryl Mentor.
▶ 1:18:54Good morning to the members of the Thank Good morning to the members of the committee. I appreciate appreciate you granting me the time and space to speak. Thank you for your attendance. My name is Cheryl Mentor. I am the mother of Stephanie Nicole Mentor. I would like to open today's subject, Stephanie Nicole Mentor, with a poem.
▶ 1:19:22Every good painting will take a million strokes. To make a good song, you have to go mining to find the perfect notes. And a castle is created stone by stone with patience and care. Because great leaps come with small steps and time. This poem comes from my favorite coffee cup gifted to me by Stephanie. We would share a cup of coffee during the early mornings.
▶ 1:19:47We buted heads like every mother and daughter, [snorts] but wanted to actively take steps together to make our relationship better. We would share stories, memories, laughter, thoughts of the future, and more. This is something I will never get to experience again because of the failures of our justice system. Stephanie was my daughter, my heart.
▶ 1:20:11She was a loving mother, a daughter, sister, an auntie, a friend, a mentor. She believed in God. She cared for people. She showed up for others even when she was tired. Stephanie was my memory since mine isn't that great She always knew the right Bible verse for any situation. Always smiling, always joyful, always loved life even through the bad times.
▶ 1:20:40Stephanie was a woman who faced many battles in life. She always came out the other side of tough times with that bright smile on her face. That same smile is something I will never be able to see again. A smile the world will never bear witness to again. On February 23rd 4th, 2026, I woke up to the worst call a parent can ever receive.
▶ 1:21:07My daughter was gone, taken in the most horrific way, was simply waiting for a bus in Fairfax County on the night of February 23rd, 2026. No mother should have to stand here and say these words. No family should have to bury their child like this. Stephanie's life mattered. Her voice mattered. Her future mattered. And today I stand here because her life was taken in a way that should have never happened.
▶ 1:21:36The man who took my daughter's life should not have been free to walk the streets. He had been picked up many times. He was known. There were warnings. There were emails sent saying he was a danger. And still he was released. I am not here for politics. I am here for accountability. I am here because a system failed my daughter.
▶ 1:21:59If not for these failures, I could be sharing a cup of coffee with Stephanie this morning rather than speaking with you all today. [snorts] When politics policies protect people who are known threat, innocent lives are put at risk. When warnings are ignored, families like mine pay the price. This is not just about Stephanie.
▶ 1:22:22This is about every Every parent, every child, every person who waits at a bus stop, walks home, or goes to work trusting they they will be safe. We cannot ignore this. We cannot look away. Compassion should never come at the cost of public safety. Care for one group should not mean danger for another. We can be a community that is both caring and responsible.
▶ 1:22:51We can have policies that protect people and also keep our streets sta safe. But that means we must act. We must listen when there are warnings. We must take threats seriously. We must make sure that people who are dangerous are not released back into our neighborhoods. I will carry my daughter's name for the rest of my life. I will carry her memory. But I should not have to carry this pain because of because of a preventable failure.
▶ 1:23:22Stephanie deserved to come home that day. She deserved to watch her child grow. She deserved more time. I am asking you, please do not let her story be ignored. Do not let another family stand where I am standing. Make changes. Take responsibility. Protect your community. Because no mother should ever have to wake up to this nightmare.
▶ 1:23:49I'd like to read [snorts] from Psalms Give them the punishments they so richly deserve. Measure it out in proportion to their wickedness. Pay them back for all their evil deeds. Give them a taste of what [snorts] they have done to others. They care nothing for what the Lord has done or for what his hands have made. So he will hear.
▶ 1:24:17So he will tear them down and they will never be rebuilt. Praise the Lord for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me [snorts] and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out of th out in songs of thanksgiving. The Lord gives his people strength for he is a safe fortress for his anointed king. Save your people.
▶ 1:24:46Bless is Israel your special possession. Lead them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms forever. [snorts] Thank you. Thank you. We'll now move to five minute questions from committee members. We'll start with Sheriff Nails.
▶ 1:25:11Thank you, sir. Uh I'm sorry, uh Miss Mter to I mean, what a very story, Stephanie. The numerous pictures we saw. Beautiful. I apologize for the individuals that have held on to these irresponsible policies costing the lives of many, many innocent Americans. So, I apologize. Mr. Kennedy, I appreciate your passion. You're right on target, Mr. Dano. Well, Miss Sheriff Concincaid, thank you for your service.
▶ 1:25:42Mr. Dano, I consider you a disgrace. I yield the rest of my balance of my time to my colleague, Mr. Klene.
▶ 1:25:50I I thank the gentleman and I thank the chairman for allowing me to sit on this panel today. I represent the vast majority of Virginia citizens who stand with you, Miss Mentor, and who are so sorry for the tragedy that occurred. And our prayers are with you and with your daughter who is uh in heaven looking down on this right now. you know, I heard your apology, Mr.
▶ 1:26:20Disano. I think the public would like to hear your resignation. Let me ask you, when Abdul Jala is released, will you honor an ICE detainer?
▶ 1:26:35Sir, my office is a prosecuting office. We don't receive ICE detainers. That's not our business.
▶ 1:26:41Will you, Sheriff Concincaid, will you honor the ICE detainer? Well, um, thank you for that question and, um, I would certainly hope that this case would be prosecuted and that justice would be served. Um, certainly when it comes to Mr. Jala, there hasn't been ICE detainers with the exception of one time in 2018, which we turned him over to ICE, and then the second time which we had to release him to a facility.
▶ 1:27:12Each other time he's been in my custody, there's been no detainers.
▶ 1:27:16If one comes, will you honor it?
▶ 1:27:18As long as I have the authority to do so and ICE knows what our policy is,
▶ 1:27:25then yes.
▶ 1:27:27If I'm given a judicial warrant, yes,
▶ 1:27:30that's different.
▶ 1:27:31Well, it's the it's what gives me the authority to detain somebody when I'm getting when I receive a court order from a judge mandating someone's I would also hope that that ICE would know when Mr. Jala is getting released so that they would be able to come and pick him up. And we do plan should he should he get convicted, we do plan on taking him, driving him down to the Department of Corrections.
▶ 1:27:59All right. Well, Mr. Dano, your policy tells prosecutors to give lighter treatment to defendants based on their immigration status. Isn't that just discrimination with a sympathetic face? And why are you protecting criminal illegal aliens more than the people of Fairfax County, the citizens?
▶ 1:28:14Well, first of all, sir, I think there's two things wrong with in the question that you asked me. We're not protecting uh uh undocumented individuals. As a matter of fact, we prosecute people who commit crimes in Fairfax County regardless of their status. And we and you know, so the idea that we don't do that is simply wrong. Our policies simply maintain that our role is to prosecute Virginia crime. That's what we do. ISIS's role is to do federal civil immigration enforcement. Mr. disagree with that.
▶ 1:28:44Fundamentally, he has a written policy to that effect. He is he is conflating two different issues. He is simply saying, why prosecute all crimes? At the same time, he has a written policy saying that illegal immigrants are going to be treated and given preferential treatment differently from American citizens. On one hand, he sits in front of this committee and says, "We don't follow sanctuary policies." At the same time, he openly admits he conducts himself in a manner in which he does not cooperate federal immigration authorities.
▶ 1:29:13That's the very definition of sanctuary policies. No, I fundamentally disagree with his assessment. There are 95 counties in Virginia. Congressman, only one county with one prosecutor has a written policy saying we're going to treat illegal immigrants differently than American citizens. It is Mr. Tusano to my left. Period. Full stop. Well, I know that when ICE does work with localities, the system can work. I worked in the Harrisonburg Rockingham Commonwealth Attorney's Office.
▶ 1:29:42They had a 287g agreement uh with ICE. And when individuals who were prosecuted, who were here illegally, uh eventually served their sentences, they were met by ICE, they were retrieved by ICE and returned to their countries of origin. The people of Rockingham and Harrisonenberg uh benefited from that policy because the streets were safer and people who committed crimes were not returned to the communities that they threatened prior to their arrest.
▶ 1:30:12So, you know, the people who are here in Fairfax from Fairfax, uh, stand and answer the ranking members question about Well, I've run out of time, so I hope I can get some more time because, um,
▶ 1:30:29people who are are working hard in Fairfax County deserve to not just feel safe, as the ranking member indicated, uh, but actually are safe.
▶ 1:30:37The gentleman's time has expired. Miss
▶ 1:30:40Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, Mr. Dano, there's been a lot said, so I just want to ask you a few yes or no questions. Uh, your office works with DHS regularly on criminal issues, not just uh not civil immigration enforcement. Is that
▶ 1:30:54That is correct.
▶ 1:30:54And if DHS came to you with a judicial warrant to take someone in your custody, would you comply?
▶ 1:31:01Well, we don't hold people in custody, but we have we have worked with that department for criminal cases before, and we will continue to do so. And do you arrest, prosecute, convict, and incarcerate individuals accused of crimes regardless of immigration status?
▶ 1:31:16Um, I just want to reiterate a couple of points again, yes or no. Is the crime rate in Fairfax County one of the lowest in the country?
▶ 1:31:25And is Fairfax County rated among the safest jurisdictions of its size by the major city chief's association? So given the ramp up of illegal mass detentions and the attacks on legal immigration that Mr. Beer and others have spoken about, how has that played out on the ground for you? Are people in immigrant communities, communities of color feeling safe to come forward and and report crimes, testify?
▶ 1:31:53No, they're absolutely not. And that in fact makes my job as a local prosecutor much harder. As I'm sure you're aware, when we do cases, we have to rely on the evidence. And most of the time that evidence is through victim and witness testimony. We want our we want members of our community to come to court. But when they're scared, as they currently are becoming more and more scared with what ICE is doing, they are more reluctant to come to court. And when we don't have witnesses, that means unfortunately bad guys hit the streets again. And as a prosecutor, that's what I don't want.
▶ 1:32:22That's what the what my trust policy is trying to avoid.
▶ 1:32:26Thank you, Professor Stove. I want to turn to you. Um, immigrant women experience domestic violence at rates nearly three times the national average and are often among the most vulnerable because the fear of deportation can keep them trapped in these abusive situations. I've done a lot of work on this issue as you know. In your work, you've written about the importance of trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement.
▶ 1:32:49When immigrant communities know that calling 911 will not result in deportation for themselves or a family member, they're more willing to report and help law enforcement solve crimes. Can you discuss how local police working too closely with ICE can undermine that trust and whether this administration's aggressive immigration policies are making it harder for domestic violence survivors to come forward and seek help?
▶ 1:33:15Yes, and thank you for your work on this area. It absolutely undermines trust. When you have law enforcement and that the line between law enforcement and immigration enforcement blurred when you call the police, you don't know when they show up at your door, are they there to help or to deport you? And so, it's absolutely created a chilling effect and really suppressed people coming forward to get help, which then causes greater danger for the broader community.
▶ 1:33:44I'll identify just just one survivor quote from a survivor reaching out to a local service provider that said her abuser would tell her quote look at the TV referring to the coverage of immigration raids and the rhetoric about immigrants to quote see how no one cared about her. This is really creating a very significant chilling effect for abuse survivors and continuing to escalate abuse.
▶ 1:34:08I'm hearing a lot about that from survivors in my own district. Um Mr. Mr. Beer, I want to thank you for your all of your research on Trump's uh attacks on the legal immigration system. He of course said he was going to go after the worst of the worst, and that is clearly not what is happening.
▶ 1:34:24Um, Republicans want to force states and localities to comply with these mass deportation policies, and they want to [clears throat] threaten to cut billions in law enforcement, public safety, and national security funding to the jurisdictions that refuse to comply. Can the federal government force states and localities to do the federal government's job? Question number one.
▶ 1:34:48Question number two, why is it not in the interest of the public and public safety to force local jurisdictions to do this?
▶ 1:34:57Well, first of all, the 10th amendment puts the firewall in place. We have a system of federalism. Uh the Supreme Court has been quite clear on this. You cannot force state and local governments to do what you want. you Congress's powers are limited. You have you can order the federal agencies to do whatever you want.
▶ 1:35:17You cannot as you know as long as it comports with the constitution of course but you cannot uh tell the states and local governments uh what to do and you also cannot use your federal grant making authority as a backdoor to coersse states into uh doing what they want.
▶ 1:35:35the the Republicans and and certainly myself and and the KO Institute were were quite happy in the Obamacare decision where they said you can't force uh Medicaid expansion on states by denying all Medicaid uh to states that don't cooperate. And so that was a a protection of uh federalism and we should continue and and defend uh the federalist system of government from these attacks.
▶ 1:36:04Mr. gigs.
▶ 1:36:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And first, I thank specifically Miss Mentor for being here today. It takes great deal of courage and appreciate you being here. I thought it was an interesting thing when we heard that Americans care about their their micro economy. But you know what they really care about? Because if you have money and you're unsafe, it's like you don't have money. You need to be safe. That's what Americans really care about. Number one, you need to be safe.
▶ 1:36:35Americans want to be safe. And I thought it was interesting, too, when the ranking members said, "Hey, if stand up here if you're uh something if in the gallery if you support uh immigrants um so that they're able to make 911 calls." I thought that was interesting. Everybody stood up and then a few sat down. But you know who can't stand up You know who's not here today?
▶ 1:36:56the of the crimes of those individuals that were released into the community knowing that they were had a propensity to commit these types of crimes that they're not here to answer for That's why we have ostensively that's why you have the police agencies. So I thought I would I would tell you you know who's not here? Miss Mentor's wonderful daughter Stephanie.
▶ 1:37:24[clears throat] and she's not here because Abdul Jala was released. The victim of Malden Annabel Guusman who was killed is not here. The victim of Marvin Fernando Morales Ortiz is not here's killed was killed released by these individuals.
▶ 1:37:52Wilmer Osmani Ramos Giron, the victim of his strangulation is not here. The victim of horse Jorge Armando Melendez Gonzalez charged 19 times violent and firearm related offenses. Not here. The victims cannot be here. Victim of Hyram Bakadeno The judge found what Mr.
▶ 1:38:21Dano's office's plea agreement was so offensive they rejected them. Then a second judge rejected the plea offer. Victims there, they're not here today. Dennis Ombberto Narete Romero again. And we could go on and we could name these victims who are not here because of the policies of this Fairfax County office.
▶ 1:38:49that I'm going to yield two minutes, the last two minutes to my friend from Virginia, Mr. Klein. Thank the gentleman for yielding. I want to get back to this uh idea that Fairfax is somehow a standout uh for keeping crime low. In fact, they're ranked number three nationally by release volume out of sanctuary strongholds across the country that routinely disregard detention requests from ICE.
▶ 1:39:16though behind Santa Clara Countyy's main pre-trial holding facility in California and and Chicago's Cook County Jail in in the number of releases um is third nationally. It's actually an embarrassment.
▶ 1:39:35From October 2022 to February 2025, the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center freed more than a thousand deportable illegal immigrants from lockup in direct defiance of over detainers lodged by ICE.
▶ 1:39:52the people who the ranking member want to feel safe in Fairfax without worrying about whether they're actually safe um are scared to walk home, are scared to take the bus to work or if they're staying in a part of Fairfax that is not the best part of Fairfax that they're going to uh encounter a criminal that is on release from the
▶ 1:40:22Fairfax County Jail. to Mr. Congress does have limited powers, but we do have the power of the purse. it becomes increasingly clear that for those uh jurisdictions that are happy to take federal tax dollars when it comes to cops grants, and I'm a supporter of cops grants, but
▶ 1:40:53when those jurisdictions are not actually implementing policies that ma that create safe communities that make maybe people feel safe, because you talk a lot about feeling safe, but are you actually safe in your community in Fairfax? Arguably, no. I would say they're not. So, making those cops dollars contingent on 287g agreements is very legal, is very possible. You can shake your head.
▶ 1:41:23No, it's definitely not.
▶ 1:41:24And I didn't ask you a question. And I didn't ask you a question.
▶ 1:41:27So, it is quite legal. And the bill that I've introduced would do just that. Gentleman's time is expired.
▶ 1:41:35Yield back.
▶ 1:41:36Uh chair recognizes Mr. Raskin.
▶ 1:41:39Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Did you want to address that, Mr. Bear?
▶ 1:41:41Yeah, real quickly. I mean, we have multiple uh appeals courts decisions directly on the point of denying funding to uh jurisdictions based on the fact that they have Democratic leadership. The the point about the Medicaid expansion in the Obamacare case, it was directly related. It was healthc care spending that they were making contingent on expanding Medicaid.
▶ 1:42:05The Supreme Court said you cannot coersse states and localities to adopt federal policy using money in this way. So there's no question it's unconstitutional for Congress to do
▶ 1:42:17And and I think that's the position anyone who's a real champion of federalism and states rights would hold, which is what you can't do in directly. You can't do indirectly through the coercive use of money. You can't give a state a godfather offer, which is basically, you know, you do what we say or else. Um, so Commonwealth Attorney Disano, Sheriff Concincaid, I don't know if either of you can answer a few questions I've got.
▶ 1:42:40Um, seems to me like the whole premise of this hearing is to uh is to blame you for the terrible murder and tragedy of Stephanie Mter. But here's what I don't understand. The guy was being held for two years in 2018 and 2019 by ICE under the first Trump administration. Um, why was he not deported then? Why did he end up back on the streets?
▶ 1:43:09Why didn't ICE release him? Can you tell me why, Mr. Dano? Do you know or Miss King? Well, uh, that's a good question and that's something that I would refer to ICE on because they did have him in custody and when he showed up back in our jurisdiction in 2022,
▶ 1:43:25we we wondered the same.
▶ 1:43:26It's just fascinating to me. We've got seven witnesses here and somebody else who's not here in addition to Stephanie is ICE. ICE cannot account for Well, I'll get to you if I've got enough time. Um, so that that's baffling to me. That's puzzling. Um, but you know, I I've been asking about that for the last couple of days. Somebody said, well, uh, he was from Sierra Leone and Sierra Leone didn't want to take him back.
▶ 1:43:51But of course, as we know, this administration has no problem deporting people to third countries, third party countries, removing him to third party countries. Why wasn't he removed by ICE? They're the only ones who've got the power to kick him out of the country. You don't have the power to deport him, do you, states attorney?
▶ 1:44:08No, sir. I don't I don't have the power. And quite frankly, yeah,
▶ 1:44:11there's nothing in my policies. If somebody is deportable when they come to my office, there's nothing in my power to change that.
▶ 1:44:16So, how do you know exactly how many violent crimes he had committed before he was in the custody of ICE? Because there were reports that he had committed, I think, a stabbing and some
▶ 1:44:28I don't I don't know the exact number, but I believe so. ICE was aware this guy's a violent criminal. They're holding him, and they release him back in the streets. Then you do your job and your only job, which is to prosecute those offenses. And you did that, right?
▶ 1:44:42Yes, sir. And we got a multi-year jail sentence as well.
▶ 1:44:44Okay. Um, and Sheriff Concaid, if I'm understanding you properly, ICE did not issue detainers when he was held for those offenses where where they did once and you complied with it. But on the other ones, they didn't issue. As I understand it, ICE didn't come forward with a detainer until after Stephanie Mentor was killed. Is that right?
▶ 1:45:06Um, in a time before when we had had to relocate this individual to a different facility. Other than that, there were no there were no detainers at all.
▶ 1:45:16Okay. And again, you know, I I feel like we're in a courtroom in Fairfax County, Virginia. We're in the Richmond legislature. Obviously, if somebody doesn't like the job that the sheriff is doing, somebody doesn't like the job the commos attorney is doing, run against them. I mean, one of these sounded Mr. Kenny, you sound like a campaign speech you were making. You've got the right to run against him. Have you been Have you faced a re-election yet? Uh,
▶ 1:45:40yes, sir. And I won with 77% of my community's vote.
▶ 1:45:42And are you elected, Sheriff Concaid, or you appointed?
▶ 1:45:45No, I'm elected.
▶ 1:45:46And have you won re-election?
▶ 1:45:48Sever Yeah, several times with uh the majority of the vote.
▶ 1:45:51Okay. And I take it that all of these issues which are complicated, which are a result of the failure of Congress to actually engage in comprehensive immigration reform are heavily debated uh in Fairfax County. And you know, we don't need to kick off your next re-election with debates here about your performance in office. And I think that that's beneath the dignity of this committee to be telling local officials they should be defeated or or should resign from office. That doesn't that doesn't make sense to me. Mr.
▶ 1:46:21What should Congress be doing to get us out of this constant immigration nightmare? We almost had a big bipartisan deal at the end of 2024. Everybody in the Senate agreed to it. All the Democrats in the House agreed to it. And then I think Donald Trump said, "I don't want a deal. I want an issue to run on." Is that
▶ 1:46:38I mean, the bottom line is, as you said, we need bipartisan immigration reform.
▶ 1:46:41Suspend for a moment. The gentleman's time's expired. I'll give you a very brief time to answer that question. You can also respond to it in later questions. We need to get back to to legality and orderly immigration. And that means a process for people who are peaceful people to get legal status and for people who are peaceful to come here legally. That's bipartisan immigration reform in my opinion.
▶ 1:47:04Chairman Jordan.
▶ 1:47:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 1:47:07Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Let me first introduce Mr. Biggs for a unanimous consent request.
▶ 1:47:10I'm sorry. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Sorry, Mr. Chairman. Uh, here's a series of articles. I'll just do a few of them and then give the whole stack to you. Virginia murder suspect in bus stop stabbing had lengthy criminal history. Multiple dropped charges. Abdul Jalad allegedly killed Stephanie Mentor at Fairfax County Bus Shelter after prosecutors dropped charges in most previous cases. Completely failed Illegal alien with lengthy arrest record allegedly butchers woman at Virginia bus stop.
▶ 1:47:37And then there's a whole stack of others which I won't read, but we'll just submit for the record if that's okay. M
▶ 1:47:41without objection. Chairman Jordan.
▶ 1:47:44Thank you. Sheriff, why'd you let Marvin Morales Ortiz out of jail?
▶ 1:47:53Because I received a court order, a judicial order from a judge ordering his
▶ 1:47:57Because the guy beside you wouldn't prosecute him, right?
▶ 1:48:00You'd have to talk to him. So this guy, the guy beside you wouldn't prosecute the guy who's an illegal migrant, who'd been charged with six different crimes, who was arrested for murder in 2020, who in 2023 assaulted a police officer, and who in September of 2025 was charged with aggravated malicious wounding and brandishing a gun. And that guy's released, you can't hold him because he's not going to be prosecuted. Is that
▶ 1:48:26I'm not sure about, you know,
▶ 1:48:27that's why you told us. You sent us a letter on March 11th, 2016 addressed to myself and Chairman Mcccleintoch and you said on December 16th, 2025, the Commonwealth attorney moved to not prosecute the charges of aggravated malicious wounding and brandishing a firearm by Mr. Morales Ortiz. So, you had to let him out, didn't you?
▶ 1:48:46Through a court order by a judge. Yes, I
▶ 1:48:49You had to let him out.
▶ 1:48:51I was ordered to release him by a judge.
▶ 1:48:54Is um I see you got some of your deputies behind. How's morale in your department, Sheriff? Is it good?
▶ 1:49:03I didn't know I was here to talk about morale, sir, but um based on
▶ 1:49:06You're here to answer the questions we ask you. That's what you're here for.
▶ 1:49:09of course I am. But I'm also here to talk about what I was invited here to talk about.
▶ 1:49:14Well, I'm I'm I'll I'll refer you to a statement you made in August. Fairfax County Sheriff Stacy King, Democrat, also told 7 News reporter Nick Minnik, "It's shameful the way things have not been prosecuted." you stand by that statement?
▶ 1:49:28If that's what was written, I do.
▶ 1:49:30No, I'm not asking if that's what was written. I'm saying, do you did you say that and do you stand by that? And is that having an impact on morale? Because most of the police departments I know and sheriffs and deputies that I know when they get the bad guys off the street, they like to see them prosecuted so they don't come back on the street, harm the community you're supposed to protect, and make their job tougher because they got to go get them again when they commit some other crime. That's why I asked the morale question in light of your statement just a few months ago where you said it's shameful that the guy beside you is not prosecuting people.
▶ 1:49:58I did.
▶ 1:49:59You said that?
▶ 1:50:00I did.
▶ 1:50:00Okay, good. Mr. Dano, why did you change your website?
▶ 1:50:04Sir, first of all, let me address what you had said.
▶ 1:50:06No, no, no. You you answered the questions we asked. You answered the questions we asked. I asked a simple question. Why did you change your website last month?
▶ 1:50:12Well, sir, your statements about we're not don't want to prosecute guys is absolutely false. and my policies so far are in this hearing.
▶ 1:50:19Are you saying what the sheriff wrote me is is wrong?
▶ 1:50:22No. What I'm saying is that the way that my policies have been
▶ 1:50:25December 16th presented in this are
▶ 1:50:28She said the Commonwealth attorney, that's you, chose not to prosecute Mr. Morales Ortiz on December 16th and they had to release him. They had to do their job because you wouldn't prosecute. What happened on December 17th, Mr. Dano?
▶ 1:50:40Well, sir, let's talk about December.
▶ 1:50:42No, that's the question. What happened on December 17? This same guy murdered the nuance. this guy murder somebody and I'm asking you why did you change your
▶ 1:50:51Well, do you not want me to talk to you about the the the actual case?
▶ 1:50:54I want you to answer the first question I said which was about change your
▶ 1:50:58Well, sir, because the website is not my policy. my policy. You were I think the voters might do a campaign. I think the voters might be interested in that was this is this is your campaign website where you said our office will take immigration consequences into account when making charging and plea decisions. Immigration consequences were certainly part of the game here, part of the issue here with Mr. Morales Ortiz. No, they weren't. You decided they absolutely were not.
▶ 1:51:23You are you are assuming something that is not that is in fact untrue because you are misrepresenting my policies. My policies do not say that we do not prosecute people.
▶ 1:51:32You're proud of your policies. Why did you change your website?
▶ 1:51:35Because that's not my policy. As I told you, sir, that is a campaign statement that I made before I was been up for six years, a week after we send you a letter saying we want you to come testify. Shazam, you change it. Is is that coincidental? because I could not believe that somebody that people were so obtuse that they could not realize what the difference between a campaign statement and an actual office policy is so when you make campaign statements that's not those aren't true. You're not being honest with your
▶ 1:52:04That's not what I'm saying at all. Sir
▶ 1:52:07sure sounded like it.
▶ 1:52:09That's absolutely not. What I'm saying is that when you still haven't told me why you still haven't told me why you took it down
▶ 1:52:14because I was hoping to come here to talk about my office policies, not be distracted by a campaign statement that was distracted a year before I was actually comeos attorney and had any and had any cases that were mine.
▶ 1:52:27This is almost laughable. This 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
▶ 1:52:36This is my policy, not what you have in your hand.
▶ 1:52:39Oh, okay. Okay. So, what you said to the voters is not not real. Doesn't count.
▶ 1:52:42No, sir. What I'm saying is that as an office holder,
▶ 1:52:45I just is run by my policy.
▶ 1:52:47Your sheriff said you wouldn't prosecute. This guy gets released, kills someone the next day, we start asking about it, you change your website and take down the statements that that say you're going to take into account immigration consequences when you decide you are going to
▶ 1:53:03has been public the entire time I've been in office. Sir,
▶ 1:53:06gentleman's time has expired. Uh, Miss
▶ 1:53:10Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the ranking member and um to our witnesses who I know Mr. Beer has been here before, so he's familiar with how this committee rarely works on getting to the root of a problem and finding a bipartisan solution. I think this hearing is a perfect example of that. And to Miss Mentor, I am deeply, deeply sorry for your loss.
▶ 1:53:37No one on this committee, regardless of political party, wants criminals roaming the street, whether they're here illegally or whether they're US citizens. And what happened to your daughter is a travesty and I am so so sorry. I also want to apologize to Sheriff Concincaid. This is police week.
▶ 1:54:02This is the week where we lift up what you and your team do to keep our communities safe. And it is clear from your testimony that that is your sole focus. So as the first person here to actually recognize that, I want to thank you for your service and I want to thank the officers that you brought along with you.
▶ 1:54:30Thank you. it. State and local law enforcement officers know how to do their jobs. You have to build trust with community members in order to do your job. You have to build trust with those members to get them to bring crimes to your attention and to get the evidence you need to prosecute people who have done things that are just horrible like in the case of Ms.
▶ 1:55:00mentor. Victims of crime also need to know that if they go to law enforcement to report a crime, they will not themselves be either detained or deported or something happened to them. Otherwise, we won't be able to deal with people in a civil society. I'm going to start with Mr.
▶ 1:55:25because he is very experienced before this committee and he's done a great deal of research on the topic of immigrants and crime. Before President Trump came to office, were immigrants more or less likely to report crime? And I'm not just talking about illegal immigrants. I'm talking about all immigrants, naturalized, you know, people who are here illegally, more or less likely to report crime and cooperate with the police compared to US
▶ 1:55:56They were more likely, according to the crime victimization survey, which is uh administered by the Department of Justice every year, more likely to report crimes to the police than US-born individuals. And that also holds true for non-citizens who half of whom are in the country illegally at that time.
▶ 1:56:17And um are im immigrant victims of crimes, including those who have legal status, how are they treated when they report a crime or go to court to
▶ 1:56:30Well, right now the administration is targeting people who go to courouses. They're arresting witnesses and victims of crimes. They're working with state and local uh jurisdictions that will cooperate with them to make arrests. We've seen individuals, for example, in Palm Beach, Florida, an individual called 911 welfare check on his four-year-old daughter. Uh ICE worked with the Florida uh police to arrest him after he called 911. And he couldn't believe it.
▶ 1:57:01He was shocked that in America they would prioritize arresting someone based on effectively he was an asylum seeker. He had an asylum application pending. Didn't matter. The the ICE la laughed at that because they don't consider that a basis uh to uh argue against detention anymore.
▶ 1:57:19And my understanding is that last year ICE agents even tackled a rape survivor at a courthouse after she gave sworn testimony in a case against a rapist. and that's been widely reported. Okay. Well, thank you for that.
▶ 1:57:33I only have a few seconds left, but um I want to ask Professor Stove, have you seen situations where victims specifically declined to call the police because they feared immigration consequences for themselves or their family members, thus allowing um violent criminals to go
▶ 1:57:53Yes, I absolutely have. And have you had those incidents when the criminal was a a citizen of the United States?
▶ 1:58:01Yes, actually more often than not when the actual abuse perpetrator is a
▶ 1:58:07So that means citizens of the United States are not being prosecuted. Is that
▶ 1:58:13Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield
▶ 1:58:16Um, Mr. Vandrew, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, I want to bring us I think the other side has brought us the bizarro world and I want to bring us to the world of reality. First of all, I want to say to you, Miss Mter, and I mean it. I know you hear crocodile tears from politicians. You hear how sorry, here's how sad. You hear the condolences. None of that does it justice. There's no words I can ever say. I say this every time we have another victim's family here.
▶ 1:58:46I pray to God there's a day when this no longer happens and we don't have to have these hearings. But we are going to have them with the good leadership of our chairman of this committee because it needs to be talked about. And if it needs to be talked about over and over again and good Americans like you are willing to be here because you love your children because you loved her and you're willing to stand up. I applaud you because more than a condolence, more than any of that is when somebody says that to you, say change the policy. Don't let it happen to somebody else.
▶ 1:59:17It shouldn't happen to anybody. God help you. I don't know how you do it, but we are praying for you. Secondly, when I say I want to bring us out of Bizarro World, I was thinking about all the empty, you know, a lot of times people gather around the kitchen table. Stephanie Mter's chair, that chair at the table is empty tonight. Lake and Riley's chair is empty tonight. Rachel Morren's chair is empty tonight. Jocelyn Nugar's chair. They're all human beings. They're all human souls that had families that love them and they love their family.
▶ 1:59:47They're gone. And we got more than that. We could spend the whole time here reading lists of people who've been murdered and hurt and beaten and raped because of what's happened and these policies. They're human beings. And you know what the worst of it is? And not the most important part, but on top of all of it, we're paying for all this. Sanctuary states and sanctuary cities cost a fortune.
▶ 2:00:10state in New Jersey where I am they estimate and this is not me this is came out in publications 7.3 billion not million billion dollars every year because of sanctuary policies that's a lot of money for people who are really squeezed and it's horrible and it shouldn't happen and also I want to allude to the fact yeah people are worried about sometimes when ICE goes into where there's a church where there's a department store or there's a school nobody's really wants
▶ 2:00:40that. Do you know why that's happening? It's happening predominantly in blue states because they local law enforcement, state, county, and local in sanctuary states are not allowed to cooperate where normally they would turn somebody over to ICE and you wouldn't have to go through that process. If we all cooperated, worked together, and cared about the people we serve, we'd be in better shape. Mr. Dano, simple question.
▶ 2:01:07Are American communities safer when illegal immigrants who commit crimes are deported or when they remain in those communities? Are they safer when they're deported? Communities? Yes or no? Just yes or no?
▶ 2:01:18Well, sir, that's not
▶ 2:01:19yes or no. Yes or no? I'm asking the question and I'm trying to answer them. No, you ask me a question that's outside of my purview.
▶ 2:01:27Someone down there asked you questions. You're a human being. You're sitting next to a woman who lost her daughter. Can you tell me if illegal criminals are to be removed from the country if we're
▶ 2:01:37and to suggest that I don't care about what happens in my community to work every day. You are going to answer my questions. You don't show any discipline. When I'm asked questions, I answer them. So, you're not willing to answer that question. Okay. So, I ask you this question. Let's talk about Abdul Jalat. Yes or no? Would Stephanie Mter be alive today if he had been deported? And you know why he wasn't deported?
▶ 2:02:04Because then quite frankly the administration was not as aggressive. And if a country didn't want to accept these awful people that came from the country, we didn't know where to send them. And we held them and we detained them. Now we're finding places to send them so that this doesn't go on. That's the answer. That's why that happened. It's not a mystery. It's not something weird or unusual. They didn't know where the heck to put it. Now we just do it and we get it done. But nevertheless, would we be safer if he wasn't in the country then? Would we be safer?
▶ 2:02:34Yes or no?
▶ 2:02:37Sir, you're
▶ 2:02:38yes or no? Or would it be safer if the man wasn't in the country? Damn it. Answer my question,
▶ 2:02:43sir. I'm trying. You keep changing the
▶ 2:02:45No, it's yes or no. There's a bad guy that murders people not in the country.
▶ 2:02:50If somebody is answering the question, I'm sorry. You know, I'll ask you this. Explain to the lady next to you, Abdul Jalah 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 Fairfax County Police Department wrote your office. We have it. It's fact.
▶ 2:03:17May 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. The very man went out and then killed
▶ 2:03:34So, the question is, couldn't have we done better there?
▶ 2:03:37Yeah, the gentleman's time is expired. I'll take that as a rhetorical question and Mr. Nadler's recognized. Oh, well.
▶ 2:03:50Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, this subcommittee has hardly been busy this year. Clearly, Republicans have no desire to conduct oversight of the Trump administration's brutal and reckless campaign to strike fear in immigrant communities across the country. They don't want to draw more attention to an outofcrol Department of Homeland Security that lets mask agents murder American citizens and tear children away from their parents.
▶ 2:04:16They can't manage to hold a hearing about ICE detention facilities that fail to meet the basic medical needs of detainees and have their highest death rates in decades. And they certainly have no interest in holding a hearing to justify the Republican plan to hand a $70 billion blank check to this Trump administration to advance its reckless, chaotic, and inhumane immigration policies when it hasn't even spent most of the money we gave them in the big ugly bill.
▶ 2:04:43Instead, they have called us here to distract from the horrors unfolding at Trump's DHS and to focus on one county in Virginia that has chosen not to join the Trump administration's extreme anti-immigrant agenda. They want to shine a spotlight on Fairfax County, one of the safest places in the country for a county of its size, because they think it's a good opportunity to engage in their favorite sport of fear-mongering and demagoguery. Mr.
▶ 2:05:10Disano, is there anything you have heard that you would like to respond to?
▶ 2:05:15Yes, thank you, Congressman. Just I think that my policies have been completely misrepresented by some people uh uh uh in the committee and on this panel. My policies are prosecution policies that are meant to keep my community one of the safest large counties in the country. Lastly, I'd like to really drive home the point that when it comes to this Abdul Jalo case, my pro my policies are a red herring.
▶ 2:05:44ICE knew about this gentleman for at least eight years to the question of if if we would have been safer with him not here. Yes, I wish I would have done its job in 2018 or 2019 when they had him. So, the idea that my policies impacted many of these cases that are being talked about is simply a red herring and not true. Thank you, Mr. Buyer. The Trump administration claims that it's only going after the worst of the worst and targeting criminals.
▶ 2:06:11But according to ISIS's own data, the majority of immigrants they have detained have no criminal record. Is the Trump administration really going after the worst of the worst? No. Not only do 72% not have a criminal conviction, only 6% have a violent criminal conviction. You look at how DHS internally is classifying its detainees. They have multiple threat levels, three different threat levels.
▶ 2:06:37And they actually deem 72% of the people when they have to do it internally decide, okay, we need to actually rank these people and prioritize who do we need to detain. 72% of the people entered and booked into ICE custody were not deemed a threat. So, it's according to their documents, their own uh analysis from the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Gnome who put out this information.
▶ 2:07:04So, no, these they're not going after public safety threats. That's totally wrong. They're going after uh uh people going to work. They're they're racially profiling Americans, as I said. They're even arresting legal immigrants uh and again setting them up for arrest by not processing their applications. Uh Joseph Edllo, who's the head of USCIS, has a policy. They're just going to shut down processing of the vast majority of green cards.
▶ 2:07:32Uh and so that results in people losing status and enables ICE to go out and arrest them. Legal immigrants being arrested because the Department of Homeland Security doesn't do its job. Professor Stove, do you have any recent examples where victims or witnesses to crimes were afraid to interact with law enforcement? And what happened in those
▶ 2:07:57Yeah, it's incredibly common now that there's just an absolute fear of interacting with law enforcement and even seeking civil protection orders, the civil remedies. So, it's not only a fear of increasing um what ends up happening if people aren't seeking help. And then also I want to add to the conversation that benefits, public benefits, CHIP, SNAP have been cut off to legal immigrants and those um who hold the temporary status.
▶ 2:08:26And so really what's happening is that the abuse is continuing and that people's financial security is weakening and what we have is greater crime.
▶ 2:08:36Thank you. Mr. Byer, can you explain why civil immigration detainers are unlawful under the fourth amendment? Well, you can't hold someone unless you have probable cause in a court order. Accord and this is
▶ 2:08:47once again, the gentleman's time's expired. Brief response. You can pick it up on the next question.
▶ 2:08:52There are multiple appeals court decisions on this. You cannot detain someone based on a civil uh detainer that's that's not based on a court order. Um so if if Fairfax uh gets a court order, they will detain them. Uh and but without a judicial order, they don't have authority under the constitution. Mr.
▶ 2:09:10Thank you, Mr. Chairman. and I yield
▶ 2:09:12The gentleman doesn't have any time to yield back. Mr. Fry.
▶ 2:09:15Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm going to yield to the
▶ 2:09:17I yield it nonetheless.
▶ 2:09:19I'm going to yield to the chairman here in a second. But I think this is actually a remarkable hearing what I've witnessed today both from the sheriff and and the commonwealth attorney. Uh the inability or the uh unwillingness to prosecute crimes that com that are committed in your jurisdiction, I think is almost an a fireable offense. and I hope that the good people of Virginia remove you from office.
▶ 2:09:43Uh, criminals are back out on the streets in Fairfax County because you want to virtue signal public safety and you're making communities less safe. In fact, we have a bill called Logan's Law. you would be a poster child because I bet if we stacked up your plea deals and your drop charges against other real prosecutors in the country, what it would show is that you're actually operating like a public defender and not a prosecutor. Uh with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield you the balance of my time.
▶ 2:10:12I appreciate the the gentleman yielding. Uh Mr. Attorney General, let me let me ask you a few things here. Uh well, first of all, you in your in your distinguished career, attorney general, I think you were in the assembly before that, but before all that, you were a prosecutor yourself. Is that right?
▶ 2:10:24That's correct.
▶ 2:10:24Yeah. And uh is it is it usually is it a good thing if the law enforcement people aren't getting along with the prosecutor? I mean, normally it's better if they get along and they're working together to keep the bad guys off the
▶ 2:10:38No question. It's a cooperative
▶ 2:10:39Yeah. And in your time as a prosecutor, I doubt maybe you did, but I doubt it your distinguished career that you ever had your chief law enforcement in whatever jurisdiction you were prosecutor. I doubt if you ever had them say, "It's shameful the way this prosecutor is not prosecuting." That ever happened to you, Mr. Attorney
▶ 2:10:55No, we never had what happened with the Fairfax Police using Chief said, "What bothers me about this case is the fact that this absolutely could have been prevented. Stephanie Mentor should be alive right now and she's not because Steve Dano's office chose to release him back in the public." No, that's never happened in my career.
▶ 2:11:11Yeah. And it doesn't happen in most places where you got a prosecutor who works with law enforcement to keep the bad guys off the street. Now, let's get back to this policy issue that Mr. Dana was talking about. He says what he said to the voters when he was running for the job. That doesn't really count. I got an official policy. What I said to the voters, don't don't forget that. That's I mean, frankly, that's what happens to a lot of politicians. I actually think it should be just the opposite. Whatever you told the voters, if they elect you, you should do what you said. I think he's doing that. I think he's just trying to wiggle around it now.
▶ 2:11:39But here's the policy consideration of this is this is County of Fairfax Commonwealth Attorney Procedure Memorandum 1215 2020. policy title guidelines for plea bargaining, charging decisions, and sentencing authorizing signature. Steve Dano, and here's what it says on point4, Mr. Attorney General. Consideration of immigration consequences. Assistant Commonwealth attorneys shall consider, we all know we're in this this business of writing laws.
▶ 2:12:09May and shall are two different words, right? Shall means you got to look at this stuff. Now, he puts a little other thing. Shall consider immigration consequences where possible. We're doing so accords with justice. all that stuff, but it's not a may, it's a shall. That is their policy. Do you agree with that, Mr. Attorney General?
▶ 2:12:24That is their policy. Yes, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 2:12:26And do you believe that has impacted the decision to let these bad guys on the street who did terrible things? Again, Miss Men is beside you.
▶ 2:12:35Just between 2022 and 2024, Mr. Tusano dropped the charges on Mr. Jaw of trespassing, malicious wounding, theft, petty lararsity, trespassing, disorderly conduct, and malicious wounding.
▶ 2:12:45That's like seven crimes, right?
▶ 2:12:47Correct. Now, here's what I want to know. And maybe your office, Mr. Dano, is willing to give us this information because you said, "Oh, no. Immigration status my last time you said immigration status had no determination on the decision relative to Mr. Morales Ortiz." I want to know in cases where it did, what were the cases where you changed the plea agreement or you changed the charging decision that were based on consideration of their immigration status? If you say, "This doesn't matter anymore. We took it down off the website.
▶ 2:13:16I didn't really I don't really believe what I told the voters. If that's the case, I want to know, did you ever use immigration status as a reason to impact the sentence and the charging decision or a plea agreement?
▶ 2:13:28Well, sure.
▶ 2:13:29Can you get us that? That's what I'm asking. Just give us that information. I want to know what here are the cases where we took into account this individual's immigration status and we changed the charging decision. Can you give us those cases?
▶ 2:13:40Sir, I I'm don't have those cases with me. I'd love to talk to you about the policy because I think cases is it a significant number?
▶ 2:13:48Well, sir, if if I may dig into the policy, I think it'll be ill
▶ 2:13:52No, I ask you about cases. I want to know the number of times you took into their because here's what everyone sees. You're you're trying to say it's not the case. Everyone sees you got an American citizen who does a crime. You got an illegal immigrant does the exact same crime. Your policy strong seems to me says that this person will get a different sentence or a different charge, excuse me, different plea agreement than the American citizen. It absolutely and I want to know if that ever happened.
▶ 2:14:16It absolutely says in the policy in black and white that a that an immigrant will not get a better outcome than a US citizen. That is in the policy. That's later. You've you read one half sentence, sir. This is a two paragraph
▶ 2:14:29Well, here's what again. Let's go back to the website you took down. Sorry, Mr. Chair. The gentleman's times is expired. I thank the gentleman. I I
▶ 2:14:36uh Mr. Tiffany,
▶ 2:14:39thank you very much. Uh Mr. [clears throat] Chairman, um I want to thank Miss Mter for the verse that she read at the end of her testimony. It was moving and thank you so much for that. Thank you so much for sharing the memories of your daughter um with us with those pictures and I'm just sorry that there's not going to be more pictures for us to be able to see in the future. Uh wish you the very best. Um in Wisconsin, uh Mr. MRS, I've got a question for you at the uh end of a couple sentences here.
▶ 2:15:08In Wisconsin, we had a terrible situation. It's sounds like it's like Fairfax in Dayne County, which is Madison, Wisconsin. Uh they have this same thing. They have sanctuary policies and an illegal uh immigrant. No one gang member was let Excuse me.
▶ 2:15:28He then later arrested uh he was later arrested over a 100 miles away in the town of Prairie Dashene in Wisconsin and he was charged with domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and strangulation. Doesn't this make it very clear that these sanctuary policies, they affect all of us, whether it's in our state, our region, whatever.
▶ 2:15:56And I think about all the people that come from our great state of Wisconsin that visit Washington DC. Seems to me that Fairfax County, not very far away, that this can be a problem for people who live all over the country. Just like this example where Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin refused to remove someone who went on to strangle someone.
▶ 2:16:21Isn't this a really big problem that is being created that does not just affect places like Dne County, Wisconsin, and Fairfax County, Virginia? It is a massive problem, Congressman. And if you meet with victims, as I have through the years, the one thing a victim will tell you, they want they they do not want to become just a number, just a statistic.
▶ 2:16:44It has been cited some of Fairfax public safety numbers, but at the end of the day, every victim, every victim, their life has changed from the date of the offense when they have lost their loved one. It absolutely affects. And what's amazing about this is that in counties where you actually have, say, Bedford County in Virginia with Sheriff Miller, great sheriff, and and West Nance, a great Commonwealth attorney, they don't get these headlines. They don't get these headlines because they actually cooperate with federal federal immigration authorities.
▶ 2:17:12But what happens in Fairfax is they're making a conscious decision and you're seeing it over and over again. And it's not just a failure to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. It is a conscious decision by Steve Disconano to crimes over and over again. People have made uh some point out of what happened when a a a judge told ICE that they had to release him because they were not allowed to deport him to Sierra Leone.
▶ 2:17:40But the reality is this was so preventable because multiple times, multiple times he was arrested. Multiple times this prosecutor had the policy of underprosecuting and dropping charge. And it's not just this case. It's multiple cases. He has made a conscious decision. I'm a little incredulous. He has decided to say, well, the promises I made to the campaign when I was campaigning voters, they don't really count. I'm a firm believer. Let your yes be yes, your no be no. And it's not what you say, it's what you do.
▶ 2:18:08He may claim this has no impact on his charging decisions, but if you look at time and time again, and I can go through the cases, and so is so can Mr. Kennedy, there is a volume of cases where he has made a conscious decision to underprosecute and essentially treat illegal immigrants with greater difference than he would an American citizen who is charged with a crime.
▶ 2:18:28Is there a correlation with the crime statistics being down? I was looking at some yesterday that came out of the judiciary committee where I think it was um 67 of the largest municipalities here in America. Um the decrease in a year was like 236 fewer murders in the United States. So think about it compared to the previous year. Um uh there's a redu there's 236 more people that are alive in America as a result of this.
▶ 2:18:56Is there a correlation with this um securing our border and those places that choose to be tough on crime? Do you think there's a correlation?
▶ 2:19:05No question. Because I do think sanctuary policies also create a magnet for groups. If you look at say Fairfax County, it's estimated roughly 200,000 illegal aliens are in Fairfax. If you look right next door to Louden, it's about 25,000. Why? MS-13 and TD and other transnational gangs understand that they are in a sanctuary. they can operate with impunity. They then reside in Fairfax and oftentimes are committing their crimes all over.
▶ 2:19:31So Fairfax and Dne County, Wisconsin, they're actually magnets for violent illegal aliens,
▶ 2:19:38right? They know they can go there and if they're picked up on a charge, they know they have local government. In this case, the Fairfax Board of Supervisors has passed the trust policy, which is an explicit prohibition on cooperation. And they know this. They're not dumb. They know which localities I will open the doors to them and which localities cooperate with federal authorities.
▶ 2:19:56Gentleman's time fired. Mr. Kn.
▶ 2:20:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Miss Menor, I'm so sorry. This is [clears throat] clearly a preventable crime despite what has been said. Um, as the father of two daughters, I can't imagine what you're going through, what you will go through. And uh candidly, I would not be acting as civily with some of the people you're seated with had I uh suffered what you've had to endure. So, thank you for being here. Mr. Dano, you said that quote, "We prosecute Virginia cases." Is that correct?
▶ 2:20:28That is correct. Yes.
▶ 2:20:29And uh you you painted a picture of being rigorous in your efforts to prosecute bad people. Correct.
▶ 2:20:36Yes. When we prosecute, of course, we um take a look at every case. Yep. We are constrained by the evidence. We're constrained by the law. I will tell you, Congressman, you know, I think what is happening here with the number of cases that we're talking about are
▶ 2:20:48I want to talk to you about one of those cases. I want to talk to you about one of those cases, sir.
▶ 2:20:53Mr. Hyram Rodriguez. You remember that
▶ 2:20:55I do. Leading up to the crime that I want to talk about, the defendant's criminal history included multiple charges and arrests for indecent liberties, exposing himself to a child, exposing himself to a child less than 15 years of age, disorderly conduct, illegally entering a property to damage, burglary. He was even sentenced, albeit, I would say, too lightly, uh, while he was on probation, while he was under court supervision.
▶ 2:21:22In June 15th, 2023, at 4:00 in the morning, Fairfax County PD responded to a burglary in process. A mother and her four-year-old daughter were asleep in the same room, but in separate beds. The mother was awoken when her four-year-old daughter was screaming in the next room. She went to investigate. The attacker dropped the four-year-old and fled the scene. It was clear that the four-year-old had been abducted from her bed.
▶ 2:21:51Her buttocks had been grabbed. Her torso had been bruised. The victim displayed immediate bruising. The mother did not see the attacker's face, but the four-year-old said he was a quote big man. Law enforcement identified Mr. Rodriguez by two ways. Forensics recovered a finger and palm print from the window that he jarred open in this case and matched footprints outside the house where he was standing with a mudprint inside the house.
▶ 2:22:18Eyewitness testimony later identified Rodriguez as having been loitering for days outside this apartment building. He had been seen using drugs in the neighborhood and he had been pacing around this particular unit in the days leading up to the crime. Police secured two warrants. One statutory burglary specifically alleging that Rodriguez entered an occupied dwelling seizing a four-year-old with the intent to commit murder, rape, robbery, or arson. Maximum penalty is 20 years.
▶ 2:22:48Abduction of a four-year-old with the intent to defile such a person was the second charge with a maximum penalty of life. Once it was handed over to your office, inexplicably so, you immediately reduced the burglary offense to a misdemeanor, which capped the sentence at 12 months. You then reduced the abduction charge to an offense that was a lower degree and capped the sentence at 10 years.
▶ 2:23:15When you entered into a plea agreement, you tried to bind the court. Bind the court so they could not sentence this person to any term over two years. Is that not correct?
▶ 2:23:28Sir, I'm so glad you brought this to
▶ 2:23:29Is that not correct?
▶ 2:23:30Well, because I would like to explain,
▶ 2:23:32It is correct. And the court rejected
▶ 2:23:36sir. I know.
▶ 2:23:36This was a This was a This was I'm talking It was a judge that was appointed by Senator Warner. This is not a right-wing judge. This is a liberal judge. And you know why he rejected it,
▶ 2:23:47He saw what you should have seen.
▶ 2:23:50He cited overwhelming evidence. Can we talk about the evidence?
▶ 2:23:54This person was a threat. I know it and you don't.
▶ 2:23:56Quit talking. This person was a threat.
▶ 2:23:59He yanked a four-year-old girl out of her bed with the intent to harm her. And you wanted to give her a cap of two years. Sir, this is And then when the plea agreement was rejected, what did you do?
▶ 2:24:14Sir, this is a great example. What did you do?
▶ 2:24:16This is a great example of a case.
▶ 2:24:18You know, I prosecuted I prosecuted and when you're evading like that, you know what's a sign of guilt. What did you do?
▶ 2:24:26You dismissed the case.
▶ 2:24:29Sir, can I please do about this know about it so much?
▶ 2:24:33Be quiet. When you dismiss a case, what happens to that defendant? He walks
▶ 2:24:40Walks free. A disgusting, perverted individual praying on children that you dismissed the case.
▶ 2:24:49As the father of two young girls, one of them's five.
▶ 2:24:53That is anything I have seen. Quit defending the indefensible. You clearly don't.
▶ 2:25:00You dismiss the case and it's shameful.
▶ 2:25:03you're a coward. You are You're You won't even let me talk to you about the
▶ 2:25:07It's indefensible, sir. I yield back.
▶ 2:25:18Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for for holding this hearing um on a really important issue that I think a lot of Americans um care very deeply about. Uh Mr. Dano, I I want to start with you. I've got a couple questions for you. Um, I've got a a document titled guidelines for plea bargaining, charging decisions, and sentencing.
▶ 2:25:45and it states that prosecutors shall consider the collateral immigration consequences of the specific crimes the defendant is charged with and the detrimental impact the deportation removal has on the families and communities uh who those removed will leave behind. This is a document. This is your your official policy. This is not from your campaign website. This is the official policy document as well. Is that correct? Do you recognize this?
▶ 2:26:10Yes. You read a portion of the policy,
▶ 2:26:13That's right. I'm I'm not going to read the full thing since 11.
▶ 2:26:17It's about 11 pages. I'm not going to read the full thing. Um I I want to better understand how you weigh an illegal alien's immigration status whenever you're making charging decisions. Um, do you do you know who Andre Jose Cortez Mendes is? Are you familiar with that case?
▶ 2:26:36Yes, sir. Okay. This is a Guatemalan illegal alien who was arrested in March of 2024. He was initially charged with quote carnal knowledge of a 13 to 14year-old. Um, just for for those of us who aren't lawyers, can you describe just very briefly what what does carnal knowledge of a 13 to 14 year old mean in this context? Well, sir, generally the uh a charge like that would typically uh refer to underage sex.
▶ 2:27:03Okay. So, so he raped an underage person, an illegal alien who raped an underage American. Your office reduced those charges to a misdemeanor charge of consensual sex with a child 15 years and older. You offered him a 90day suspended jail sentence. Is that correct? Sir based on the evidence that we had in the case.
▶ 2:27:24So it is correct
▶ 2:27:25but it's not related to the policy sir.
▶ 2:27:27So that so that is correct. I I just want to ask you whenever you were making that charging decision to reduce the charge how did you weigh the defendant's immigration status?
▶ 2:27:36Well sir I to be clear I was not the lead prosecutor in that case.
▶ 2:27:40It it it was your your uh your office.
▶ 2:27:42Oh abs absolutely sir. I of course rely on my team of 50 some attorneys to to do cases. Um but I think what is important is that oftentimes as you know sir um as a prosecutor you know we're constrained by the evidence we are constrained
▶ 2:27:59I just need to know how how did you weigh how did you take into account the defendant's immigration status
▶ 2:28:04well sir again
▶ 2:28:05making that decision how did your office make that determination
▶ 2:28:08well what I was what I would say is that and thank you for clarifying um if you take a look at the the immigration conse uh uh consequence policy or Let me ask it a different way. Did did you did your office reduce charges against this illegal alien from a felony rape charge to a misdemeanor charge with a 90-day suspended jail sentence in part because this was an illegal alien in question?
▶ 2:28:33No, this was evidentiary based.
▶ 2:28:34It was evident. There was no, it had nothing to do with the the defendant's immigration status. Your testimony that if you read the policy, you'll see that the defendant's immigration status. It's just yes or no.
▶ 2:28:45Well, sir, it was based on the evidence. It it it
▶ 2:28:47I'm I'm asking you did was their immigration status part of the evidence?
▶ 2:28:51I don't believe so.
▶ 2:28:52Yes or no? You don't believe so? Your pol your policy says that it you shall consider their immigration.
▶ 2:28:57Actually, sorry. If you actually read the whole policy, it explicitly car
▶ 2:29:00prosecutor shall consider the collateral immigration consequences of the specific crimes the defendant is charged with and the detrimental impact that deportation removal has on the families.
▶ 2:29:10It also mentions that it's not outcome determinative. It also
▶ 2:29:14I understand and I'm asking you if that if you weighed your office weighed
▶ 2:29:19uh the defendant's immigration status in making your charging decisions here.
▶ 2:29:23Oh, again sir, I was I was not the lead prosecutor in this.
▶ 2:29:26I'm asking for your office. I understand you're not the leader.
▶ 2:29:28Exactly. I just want to be clear, but the way that the policy is written,
▶ 2:29:33that case should not have fallen under the rubric of this policy. This is a narrow policy and is meant to be a narrow policy. illegal alien. I think that would qualify, would it not?
▶ 2:29:45Well, no, sir. Because again, the the way that the policy is being presented as it is as it is outcome deter there would be immigration uh consequences based on what what charge you bring that would clearly apply to this case.
▶ 2:29:59No, sir. Again, [clears throat] that's the reason why I mentioned earlier you read a portion but not the entire two paragraphs of this subhead.
▶ 2:30:06Prosecutors shall consider. I just want to know. Yes sir. Just give me a yes or no answer. Did you take into account the defendant's immigration status?
▶ 2:30:14Sir, again, I was not but the way the is written. No, they should not have taken that. That is not outcome determined in a case like this, sir.
▶ 2:30:22Great. Thank you. My time's up.
▶ 2:30:24Mr. Gman,
▶ 2:30:25yeah, I had another hearing, so I apologize if I'm asking [clears throat] a question that's already been asked. Uh, obviously, we have immigration laws in this country. Every country has immigration laws. Uh we have 800,000 people about naturalized in this country every year and we're right now in a position which one out of six Americans uh in this country I mean are foreign born or one out of six people in this country which is the all-time high.
▶ 2:30:52So nobody could say that under current law we are not more than generous with people who want to come here. Um, nevertheless, there's some people who I can only, unless they're very foolish, are trying to destroy the country by in addition to the 800,000 people getting swear sworn in, want to let unlimited other people in the country. Now, my first question is for Sheriff Concaid.
▶ 2:31:17I hear from my local sheriffs in uh if if there's any activity from federal agents, FBI, ATF, DEA, US Marshalss, Secret Service, they are always contact the federal agency or they call them to coordinate with them, you know, maybe to set up a perimeter, maybe if they have to to remove somebody, take them to the local jail.
▶ 2:31:45Um we are told and that would seem to be automatic as an American. Uh, nevertheless, we're told, Sheriff Concincaid, that your office sometimes is reluctant to assist federal agencies and ongoing investigations intended to safeguard citizens. How do you respond to that charge?
▶ 2:32:06First and foremost, we we never obstruct ICE. Um, as a matter of fact, we work with them on in three or four more ways. when they request and call and ask for assistance, especially when it comes to turning someone over, we we coordinate that with them to ensure that their safety. But as far as uh not cooperating with them, um we we do we do that all the time, just like any other law enforcement agency.
▶ 2:32:31Okay. Does Virginia law explicitly authorize compliance with ICE detainers within 5 days of a criminal alien's release from your custody?
▶ 2:32:41Based on the the judicial or the I'm sorry, the administrative warrant, there is law that that allows for us to turn an individual over to ICE 5 days prior to when they are set to be released. And ICE does know that.
▶ 2:32:54Yeah. And we do.
▶ 2:32:55You do. Okay. Has your office conducted an audit of what happens to individuals you've released instead of honoring ICE detainers or do you always honor the
▶ 2:33:05In terms of we we honor deta we honor detainers. It is when we are presented with a judicial warrant that we will continue to detain somebody because it's authorized by a judge.
▶ 2:33:17Okay. Uh Mr. Mr. Meris, um, can you give a high level overview of the findings of your September 2025 investigation into Fairfax County's Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney's
▶ 2:33:31Yes. Yes, sir. Yeah, we we conducted one and saw that uh in our opinion um that Mr. Dano views himself more as a social worker than a prosecutor and that as a result he has systematic failed uh the victims in Fairfax County. We talked to so many not just those and including the victims that were uh immigrants but everyday citizens that have felt that the Fairfax County Attorney's Office had failed them.
▶ 2:33:57Okay. Could you respond or do you agree with everything Sheriff can gain? So
▶ 2:34:01I I do find it curious what we have is they keep trying to say uh they need a judicial warrant as you know uh DHS and others said that that is not required in this case. And what you've seen actually in Virginia disturbingly is that we we just had our current governor pass an executive order first one EO1 that banned cooperation with federal immigration authorities not just with the state police overturning Governor Yncan's policies but also with the department of corrections.
▶ 2:34:28In other words, someone that is a convicted felon in a Virginia prison even then. And so you are seeing a lot of bad policies from Fairfax being brought statewide.
▶ 2:34:38Okay. uh that that's kind of shocking and I I guess if you'd elaborate on a little bit and what would happen in this country if uh or what effect that has on uh people who are here illegally and are legally committing crimes.
▶ 2:34:52We we as a nation allow roughly 1 million legal immigrants a year. We are a good and decent and generous people. That's who we are. I'm the child of an immigrant. But what Americans do not like is be seen that they're being taken advantage of. During the Biden administration, between 8 to 10 million illegal immigrants came into this country. That is larger than the population of 32 US states. That is not tenable. People are not doing it the right way. We There is not a country on the planet that is generous with legal immigration as we are.
▶ 2:35:22It's not even close. But what we don't appreciate right now are people that are cutting in line and breaking our laws. It's something we all learned in grade school, but we have too many policy makers who decide that's okay and they shrug their shoulders. They turned a blind eye. In this case, Steve Dano deciding to adopt policies taking someone's illegal immigration status and underprosecuting cases in which we're seeing the tragic results as we're seeing today.
▶ 2:35:47Gentleman's time is expired. Uh, Miss
▶ 2:35:51thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, you know, I I practiced alongside immigration attorneys for a period of time before coming to Congress, so have a sense of just how broken our immigration system is and how hard it is even for people who are trying to follow the rules to actually follow the rules. So, um, a lot of the conversation we have in Congress seems to come from folks who don't understand how the system is actually, uh, working or not working.
▶ 2:36:21And if our Republican colleagues want to talk about who and what is making Americans less safe today, it's this White House and its chaos and its reckless mass deportation agenda. Families and communities are being torn apart. Citizens have been ripped from their homes with no warrants in cases of mistaken identity. Federal agents have shot and killed Americans in our streets for daring to question their unlawful tactics.
▶ 2:36:51The White House has prioritized meeting deportation quotas and in doing so has targeted all immigrants, including those who have followed our rules and who until this administration changed the rules. Those folks were in our country legally. But the majority of folks who have been detained by ICE have no criminal record here or in their home countries. And that's according to the AY's own data.
▶ 2:37:21While ICE and CBP claim to be f claim to be focusing on the worst of the worst, instead they've gone after toddlers with Spider-Man backpacks, parents taking their kids to school or to the hospital for cancer treatment, hardworking people showing up at work, spouses of military veterans and active duty service members, and lawabiding people who are showing up for their interviews and court hearings as they are
▶ 2:37:51following the rules to do what they need to do to become citizens or obtain other forms of legal status. So, who does any of this make more safe? Aside from the trauma and the heartbreak that these policies have inflicted on individual families and communities, the damage to our economy is mounting by the day.
▶ 2:38:13That damage comes from companies rethinking their investments in the US because they see um their citizens, their folks getting abused by our immigration agents. Tourists who've decided not to visit Disney World or um celebrate our 250th anniversary or attend the World Cup this year. We've seen uh bookings from overseas are down 20 to 30% across the country, but we're particularly sensitive to it in Philadelphia.
▶ 2:38:44And we're seeing physicians, researchers, and students from around the world who've been deterred from bringing their talents and their um you know what they can bring to our country by additional visa fees and by the risks of being targeted by misguided immigration agents. So throughout our country's history, immigrants have been drawn here by the promise of America and its brighter future.
▶ 2:39:10And they bring meaningful contributions to our economy, our culture, our social fabric uh in in all of our communities. So we should be fixing our outdated, broken immigration system to make it better and more efficient, not undermining it or just trying to gut it entirely. because failing to do that work is a huge disservice to all of us and to the future success of our nation.
▶ 2:39:38Our Republican colleagues have tried to say this is about fighting crime, but in pursuit of this administration's indiscriminate crackdown, they're diverting federal law enforcement, prosecutors, and resources away from serious threats, including child exploitation, fentanyl trafficking, domestic terrorism. So, um this is really misguided. it seems to be entirely about politics and not about actual safety. Um, Mr.
▶ 2:40:06Dusano, in the few seconds we have left, is there anything you would like to add because you seem like you've been a very practical and engaged public servant.
▶ 2:40:15Well, thank you, Congresswoman, and there are a few things I'd love to add. First of all, let me be clear. My policy that we're talking about was written with legal permanent residence in mind for minor crimes. It was based off of the Padilla versus Kentucky US Supreme Court case that said it is a good idea for prosecutors and defense attorneys to take into account and to know collateral immigration consequences. The LA The other thing I'd like to say is Mr. Mi and Mr. Kennedy, they've never been in my office. They've never seen the case files that I've seen.
▶ 2:40:44They jump to a bunch of conclusion.
▶ 2:40:49Gentleman's time has expired, but I'll let you finish that sentence.
▶ 2:40:52Thank you, sir. um they jump to conclusions about case outcomes that we may not be thrilled about and give it and as ascribe reasons that simply aren't the reasons.
▶ 2:41:01Thank you, Mr. Honor.
▶ 2:41:02Thank you.
▶ 2:41:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Dano, in your written testimony, you wrote the system failed. Miss Winter, do you consider yourself part of that failure?
▶ 2:41:13Sir, I do believe that the entire system did fail. I will tell you that I wish that there were things that we could have done and had to go forward with on that. Okay. Did the police fail, Miss Win mentor?
▶ 2:41:26No, sir. I think what the
▶ 2:41:28Did Sheriff Concaid fail, Ms. Mentor?
▶ 2:41:30No, sir. But I think
▶ 2:41:32everyone failed, Miss Mentor. The the system failed. M the the the amorphous system. Not you. [clears throat] You a soft on crime Soros prosecutor. Not you who do not honor ICE detainers. Neither of you believe in honor honoring ICE civil detainers. No, judicial detainers that in most cases are not even possible to obtain. Miss Mentor, do you feel the system failed you and your daughter Yeah.
▶ 2:42:02Do you feel, Miss Winter, that and you can appine or not if you don't. Do you feel that Mr. Just prosecutor's office hears victims
▶ 2:42:18hears victims.
▶ 2:42:20It takes victims into account and potential victims.
▶ 2:42:24Because I think based on the policies of Fairfax County, both the sheriff's office and the prosecutor's office, what happened to you and your family was entirely preventable.
▶ 2:42:37I believe it was. We have the when you have the policy of not cooperating with ICE, by the way, in violation of federal law, these things are going to happen. People who should not have been in the United States of America at all.
▶ 2:42:54Criminal illegal aliens in our solicitess to appease the radical left base of the Democrat party and their open borders It's the policy we don't want to deport Mr. Duskano even said it on his campaign website. Well, that's not really the policy of the Fairfax County's county prosecutor's office. Okay. Were you lying to the voters or are you lying to us now today?
▶ 2:43:23I just believe what I believe is that the vicious criminals, the criminals that keep hurting our people should be out of here.
▶ 2:43:39They need to be deported. And you know what? I don't think it has to do with ICE. I think it has to do with
▶ 2:43:48having I mean, we're nowhere. We're not a country without illegals coming in and without people coming in from the other country. That's what our country is built on.
▶ 2:43:59There is no such thing as a sovereign nation without secure borders. Well, thank you. No, thank you. Thank you for your courage being here today. Yes. I mean, it's nice to give lip service. Oh, the system failed you, Miss Mentor. But it's another thing to do something about it. Especially when the radical base of your party doesn't want you to do anything about it. And I think we know the two elected officials to your left today. We know where they sided.
▶ 2:44:29We know did they side with victims or did they side with their radical left open borders base? I think we know the answer to that. Um Miss Mr. beer buyer. Um, you you kind of implied and that somehow because the United States is is so dysfunctional regarding legal immigration that that somehow encourages illegal immigration in some way. I may may believe believe that.
▶ 2:44:58But I want to I want to I want to want to give you some numbers. You know, in in 2024, the United States admit it gave 1.36 million uh million um you know foreign nationals green cards uh 226,000 family sponsored visas 150,000 visas 52,000 diversity uh legal lottery uh visas in early 26
▶ 2:45:29there was an asylum backlog of 3.5 million cases um mid 2025 temporary protected status backlog 1.2 2 million cases. Um, Mr. Myer said said, and I think I got this right, there's no country on this planet that's more generous uh to legal immigrants than the United States of America. If the numbers I read to you, Mr. Byer, are not enough. What is the right number?
▶ 2:45:55Because roughly roughly a billion people on this planet live on $2 or less per day, and I imagine quite a few of them would like to immigrate to the United States. What is that number? Is is there a number or should they all all all billion be able to immigrate into the United States legally or illegally?
▶ 2:46:13Well, the United States ranks in the bottom fired. Mr. Beer, I'll give you a few seconds to respond.
▶ 2:46:18The United States ranks the bottom third of wealthy countries for its foreignborn share of the population, for the rate at which it admits people. We're a very large country. We have 338 million people in here. 1 million people is a third of a percent of the population. That's half of what it was in the early 20th century. And we survived that. and thrived as a result of it. So yes, we can allow more legal immigration to the United States.
▶ 2:46:41We should have processes that are fair that allow people an opportunity to come and protect our rights as Americans to associate and contract. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. People born in my negative expired.
▶ 2:46:54Um I'll recognize myself.
▶ 2:46:57Oh, we've got a unanimous consent request. Miss Jipal.
▶ 2:47:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I seek unanimous consent to enter into the record uh an opinion piece from our Seattle city attorney entitled Seattle's Welcoming City Policies Keep Us Safe.
▶ 2:47:11Without objection, I'll now recognize myself for five minutes. Mr. Dano, in the case of Mr. Rodriguez, whose charges you dropped in the case of the four-year-old who was attacked in her own bedroom. Uh, I understand he was later taken into custody by ICE and deported. I'm just curious, did you notify ICE of that release so that they could deport him, or was it the little girl's mother who had to call ICE to get him out of your community?
▶ 2:47:35Sir, we did not we did not uh call
▶ 2:47:37the mother had to call to get him out of your community. Mr. Mayoris, we keep hearing from Sheriff Concaid among others that they'd be happy to respond to a federal judicial warrant to honor a detainer request. Well, is a federal judicial warrant possible to obtain in a state crime? No, it's not. And they know
▶ 2:47:56And if deportation is a civil matter, how does one get a federal judicial
▶ 2:48:00You can't. Again, they know this.
▶ 2:48:03So, they're basically lying to the public. They're they're counting on the public not understanding that what they're asking for is legally
▶ 2:48:12It's legally impossible. Yes, Mr. Chair.
▶ 2:48:14Um, Mr. Kennedy, do you find it odd that the Democrats are blaming ICE for not deporting uh this particular suspect who who's accused of murdering of Stephanie Mentor. Um and at the same time they refused to notify ICE so they can deport such suspects and they refuse to fund ICE so that they can deport such find it odd.
▶ 2:48:40I do find it odd, but I'm actually going to extend agreement to uh the Democratic side because I believe that Mr. Jalo should never have been deported whatsoever. He should have spent the rest of his natural life before Stephanie Manner's death in the Virginia Department of Corrections. And short of that, he should have been deported to Sierra Leone after he served his sentence. None of that came about. He was never sent to prison. Mr. Discono said that he obtained a a sentence for him for multiple years.
▶ 2:49:09He never left Fairfax County. He never was sentenced to prison. He spent time in the jail and was released because of good time credits. Mr. Jallo should have spent the rest of his life in prison and then been
▶ 2:49:21Have to go on. We keep hearing these sanctuary policies enhance public safety. What have your studies shown? that these aren't the same thing. That every single person who is injured or is a victim of a property crime, a person crime, let alone a homicide, was a completely preventable homicide. It was a completely preventable crime. And so these are all excess things that didn't have to happen.
▶ 2:49:44And when it comes to repeat offenders, I identify in my testimony 25 incidents, 25 and half of them are unknown to the rest of the public where escalating violence occurred. escalating
▶ 2:49:56and that's including three out of seven homicides in Fairfax County. Uh the Center for Immigration Studies looked at the escape documentation from states seeking reimbursement for illegal aliens held in their state prisons. They found that illegal aliens are typically at least three times as likely to be incarcerated than citizens or lawfully uh present aliens. Uh Mr. Mayor.
▶ 2:50:19Um, Democrats say this is all necessary to get illegal immigrants to report crimes, but in fact, if an alien is the witness to or a victim of a crime, don't they qualify for a UV visa to uh remain in this country under current law?
▶ 2:50:34Well, I don't think it builds community trust either. When you see a catch and release program being instituted by this Commonwealth attorney's office, that does not build trust for you to come forward to testify. Someone's not going to report a crime if they knew that criminal is going to be back on the streets later that afternoon to take
▶ 2:50:51That is correct. And so what you have seen is a revolving door. Every policy Mr. Dano advocates for policies he supported in the general assembly is to allow a revolving door. Changing our bond policies in Virginia and his own personal policies that they have in Virginia is to release criminals back into the community time and time again. And we know from his official policy that he takes takes uh in factor their immigration status as well.
▶ 2:51:17And and ironically when these criminals are released back into the community, they tend to prey on uh the illegal immigrant community where they've come from, do they not?
▶ 2:51:27No question. In fact, we we had just a case recently where a legal immigrant from Bangladesh had her head bashed in by an illegal Haitian national with a long wrap sheet who've been allowed to remain in this country u uh under the TPS program. Uh you mentioned um that Governor Spanberger is expected to sign legislation that would forbid cooperation with ICE. I assume that would forbid notifying ICE uh if and when Stephanie Mitter's killer is
▶ 2:51:53Correct. Correct. He will be presumably uh uh in the Virginia Department of Corrections and under a current executive order, as we noted, there's a there's no requirement of a judicial warrant. They won't notify ICE. And so, despite all of her public
▶ 2:52:08Miss I just Miss Mter, um Sheriff Concincaid said that she didn't have in her budget to make a phone call to ICE uh to uh to honor a detainer. Does that make you feel more safe? What's your response to Sheriff
▶ 2:52:26Um, I think I'm just going to start keeping a listing, calling ICE myself.
▶ 2:52:32Might be
▶ 2:52:33Oh, my time's expired,
▶ 2:52:34Mr. Chairman. I have a few more unanimous consent requests.
▶ 2:52:38Go ahead.
▶ 2:52:39Uh, ask unanimous consent to enter to the record Kato Institute, Mr. Beer's policy analysis titled, "Immigrants cut victimization rates and boost crime
▶ 2:52:49Yes, we've seen it. Without objection. Uh, another one that is titled family says Virginia domestic violence victim didn't seek help due to immigration and another one entitled she testified about being raped then ICE showed up from the Atlantic.
▶ 2:53:08Without objection.
▶ 2:53:09Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 2:53:10And if there's no further business to be brought before the committee, I want to thank our witnesses for appearing uh before the subcommittee today. Without objection, all members will have five legislative days to submit additional written questions for the witnesses or additional materials for the record. And without objection, the hearing is