Justice Department Opens Probe Into Fairfax County Prosecutor Steve Descano

The Justice Department notified Fairfax County Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano of a federal investigation into his office’s Plea Bargaining Charging Decisions and Sentencing Policy the department said in a release issued May 6 2026.

The Civil Rights Division will examine whether Descano’s office discriminated against United States citizens by offering preferential treatment only to illegal-alien criminal defendants according to the department’s notification letter. The investigation covers charging decisions plea offers and sentencing recommendations made by prosecutors in Fairfax County which serves more than 1.1 million residents and handles thousands of criminal cases each year.

The probe shifts Descano’s office from operating without federal oversight on these policies to facing active scrutiny by the Civil Rights Division. The notification initiates a formal inquiry that requires the office to produce records and respond to written demands; no deadline for completion appears in the release.

Downstream the investigation will compel Descano’s office to retain documents on every charging plea and sentencing decision involving noncitizen defendants. Federal officials must now review those files to establish whether a pattern of discrimination exists.

If the division finds violations it can pursue injunctive relief or other remedies through federal court. The inquiry also places Fairfax County on notice that similar policies in other local prosecutors’ offices may draw parallel reviews.

This marks the first time the Justice Department has opened a civil-rights investigation into a Virginia commonwealth’s attorney’s immigration-related charging and sentencing practices. The notification follows years of public debate over sanctuary-style policies in Northern Virginia localities but rests solely on the statutory authority of the Civil Rights Division to enforce nondiscrimination requirements that apply to recipients of federal funds and to government actors administering justice.