The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano on Wednesday, Sept. 16, demanding documents about his office's handling of cases involving non-U.S. citizen defendants.

The subpoena, issued by committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), gives Descano until Friday, Sept. 25, to turn over the records. It marks an escalation in a months-long federal inquiry into the locally elected prosecutor who won nearly 78% of the vote in 2023.

Descano's attorneys had warned the subpoena was coming. In a Monday, Sept. 14, letter to Jordan and immigration subcommittee Chairman Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), lawyers Michael Satin and Laura Ferguson said the committee's scope had expanded well beyond immigration enforcement.

"We were surprised and disappointed by this latest escalation," Satin and Ferguson wrote in the letter, which was obtained by WTOP.

The attorneys said committee staff sought information about all cases that were nolle prossed, or voluntarily dropped, during Descano's tenure. That includes cases with no connection to a defendant's immigration status or nationality.

Descano's office has maintained it has cooperated extensively. His lawyers said the office produced more than 1,100 pages of documents and sent four letters answering the committee's questions. Descano also testified voluntarily before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Integrity, Security and Enforcement in May 2026.

His office said its Trust Policy, which the committee has called a "sanctuary" policy, encourages crime victims and witnesses to come forward. Fox News congressional correspondent Bill Melugin reported on X that Jordan's subpoena cited Descano's alleged preferential treatment of defendants in the country illegally.

The inquiry has centered partly on a 2020 office policy directing prosecutors to "consider immigration consequences where possible" when negotiating plea agreements. Congressional scrutiny also followed the February killing of Stephanie Minter along Route 1 in Hybla Valley. Abdul Jalloh, a 32-year-old immigrant from Sierra Leone, is charged in her death and awaiting trial.

At the May 2026 hearing, Minter's mother, Cheryl Minter, told lawmakers she was seeking accountability, not politics.

The committee first wrote to Descano on Jan. 15 and again on June 4, according to the Fairfax Times. Jordan and McClintock set a Sept. 7 deadline for materials and warned the committee could turn to "compulsory process." Descano responded on July 2 and July 24.

Descano's lawyers argued the inquiry's "shifting nature" shows the committee is targeting their client for political reasons. The U.S. Department of Justice launched a separate investigation into Descano's office in May 2026, examining whether it violated federal civil rights laws barring recipients of federal funding from discriminating based on race, color or national origin.

The committee has not announced a hearing date. The Sept. 25 document deadline is the next scheduled milestone.