Jim Jordan drops subpoenas on two prosecutors over treatment of illegal immigrants

BS BULLETIN:

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed prosecutors in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Boulder, Colorado.
Jordan’s committee alleges their offices may give illegal immigrants preferential treatment to help them avoid immigration consequences.
The prosecutors have until Sept. 25 to comply with the subpoenas.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is escalating his battle with two local prosecutors over how their offices handle criminal defendants who are in the country illegally.

Jordan issued subpoenas Wednesday to Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano and Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty, demanding documents related to their prosecution and immigration policies.

The Ohio Republican’s committee has been seeking information from both offices for months. Now Jordan is using subpoena power.

The committee alleges the prosecutors may be giving foreign nationals preferential treatment when making charging or plea decisions in order to help them avoid immigration consequences.

Jordan’s letter to Descano focuses heavily on a written Fairfax County policy concerning immigration consequences. According to the committee, Descano’s office has provided some written policies, immigration-related communications and court documents, but has not turned over everything Jordan requested concerning cases involving non-U.S. citizens.

NEW: Chairman @Jim_Jordan subpoenaed Fairfax County prosecutor Steve Descano and Boulder DA Michael Dougherty for documents and information on their offices’ sanctuary policies after failing to comply with the Committee’s requests.

Descano’s and Dougherty’s offices both… pic.twitter.com/Baa57o09iT

— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) September 16, 2026

“For months, you have failed to fully comply with the Committee’s requests,” Jordan wrote.

The Fairfax prosecutor has previously defended his approach. “My policies are fair, legal, and reflect the values of my community,” Descano said earlier this year after the Justice Department opened a separate civil rights investigation into his office.

That DOJ investigation is examining whether Descano’s policies improperly favor immigrant defendants by taking potential deportation consequences into account.

Jordan’s dispute with Dougherty centers partly on a lack of documents. The Judiciary Committee says it first sought immigration-related records from the Boulder prosecutor months ago and that Dougherty had not produced a single document in response before Wednesday’s subpoena.

Dougherty has disputed the premise of the congressional investigation and characterized the broader effort as political. The controversy also intersects with Colorado law, which limits some state and local cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement.

Jordan argues that local prosecutorial policies designed to shield defendants from federal immigration consequences could interfere with Congress’s constitutional authority over immigration. His committee also says preferential treatment based on immigration status could raise federal civil-rights questions.

Both prosecutors have been given until Sept. 25 to produce the requested material. That means Jordan’s months-long request for answers has officially moved into a different phase. He’s no longer asking.