Fairfax County, Virginia, has declined to transfer 615 illegal immigrants to ICE over the past 16 months, while turning over just 11, according to records obtained by a conservative legal group.

Sanctuary Policy

The county, which formally designated itself a sanctuary jurisdiction in 2021, has a policy that bars law enforcement from honoring ICE civil detainers or otherwise assisting with federal immigration enforcement.

America First Legal, the group that obtained the records, placed much of the blame on Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephen Descano, who has faced sharp questioning from Republicans over his prosecutorial discretion in cases involving illegal immigrants.

Descano has defended his policies as evidence-based and handled on a case-by-case basis, but America First Legal argues that the policies have led to several gruesome cases, including the murder of a Virginia woman whose alleged killer is an illegal immigrant with a lengthy criminal record in the county.

Consequences

The group notes that the county’s policies have directly led to several crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants who received light sentences or had charges dropped.

Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid’s office has refused to transfer hundreds of illegal immigrants to ICE, with only a handful being turned over to federal authorities.

The data shows that for the entirety of 2025, Kincaid’s office refused to transfer 448 illegal immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security for processing, while turning over only nine to ICE.

During the first four months of 2026, Fairfax declined to transfer another 167 illegal immigrants, while turning over only two.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.