Sanctuary Cities illegal alien polices, are just one of the many horrific consequences of this national destructive agenda of the DNC! Numerous URL links (18) deserve your attention.

 

New report shows sanctuary city policies still wrecking American life

Fairfax County, Virginia is in the spotlight today, but the problem is embedded throughout the U.S.

Wendi Strauch Mahoney | July 8, 2026 www.americanthinker.com

America First Legal has been at the forefront of exposing sanctuary-style policies that shield illegal aliens at the expense of American citizens.  Its latest release of records expose Fairfax County, Virginia’s so-called Trust Policy as a formal non-cooperation policy with ICE — one that has endangered the public and, in some cases, carried deadly consequences.  AFL has also documented similar detainer refusal policies in Santa Clara County, California; Cook County, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; and San Francisco, California.  Similar sanctuary-style policies also exist in New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Boston.

America First Legal recently released records it obtained from the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office showing that in 2025, Fairfax County refused to transfer 448 illegal aliens who had already been arrested by police and transferred only nine to ICE custody through criminal or judicial warrants.  From January through April 2026, Fairfax declined to transfer another 167 to ICE and transferred only two.  Across those 16 months, Fairfax declined transfer in 615 out of 626 cases — about 98 percent.

The chart below summarizes AFL-obtained Fairfax County Sheriff's Office ICE Detainers Data:

 The policy at the center of the controversy is Fairfax County’s Public Trust and Confidentiality Policy, adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2021.  The policy is meant to “build trust” by ensuring that migrant residents can access county benefits and services without fear that information they share will be disclosed to federal immigration officials. But the operative language extends to the enforcement of immigration policy, declaring that “it is not an appropriate use of Fairfax resources to facilitate enforcement of federal immigration law.”  It goes on to clarify that the county will comply with valid judicial warrants, subpoenas, and federal or state laws and regulations mandating cooperation but will otherwise restrict information-sharing that could be used for immigration enforcement.

The county’s Trust Policy General Directives go farther, stating that they are designed to “prohibit voluntary cooperation with federal civil immigration enforcement” and to ensure that county employees do “not voluntarily cooperate” with enforcement of federal civil immigration laws.

The Fairfax Sheriff’s Office says the same thing in plainer language.  Its policy statement says the office will detain an individual who has a judicial warrant authorizing arrest, including a judicial immigration warrant, but “will not detain an individual based on an informal request or detainer.”  The Sheriff’s Office argues that ICE detainers are requests, not judicial commands, and that holding inmates beyond their release date without judicial authority raises constitutional concerns.

Unfortunately, these policies are typical, not outliers, in sanctuary jurisdictions.  The overarching theory behind many of these policies is that local government should not help federal immigration authorities unless forced to do so by a court order, judicial warrant, subpoena, or mandatory law.

Fairfax is not alone.  AFL’s public-records investigation has exposed the same pattern in other sanctuary jurisdictions.  AFL reports that Santa Clara County, California, received 529 ICE detainer requests from January 2025 through January 2026 and honored none.  Cook County, Illinois refused more than 410 detainers in 2025.  Denver received 219 ICE detainer requests in 2025 and another 55 in the first three months of 2026.  San Francisco denied 671 detainer requests in 2025 and another 196 in the first 61 days of 2026.  Fairfax is simply the latest entry in what appears to be a national pattern of organized non-cooperation.

To be clear, an ICE detainer is not a request aimed at random individuals; it is a notice to another law enforcement agency that DHS seeks custody of an alien already in that agency’s custody for arrest and removal.  Federal regulation provides for temporary detention of up to 48 hours, excluding weekends and holidays, so DHS can assume custody.

In practical terms, ICE is asking local authorities to hold someone already arrested long enough for federal officers to take custody in a controlled setting.  When jurisdictions refuse, ICE must either risk allowing the person to return to the community or attempt an at-large arrest later.  That means greater risk for federal officers, greater risk to bystanders, and increased opportunities for repeat offenders to victimize someone else.

The consequences of ignoring detainers can be catastrophic, as Fairfax saw in the case of Stephanie Minter.  In February 2026, Minter, a 41-year-old mother, was fatally stabbed at a Fairfax County bus stop, allegedly by Abdul Jalloh.  According to a February 28 Department of Homeland Security press release, Jalloh entered the U.S. illegally in 2012, and ICE lodged a detainer against him in 2020.

Jalloh’s criminal history includes “more than 30 arrests for charges of rape, malicious wounding, assault, drug possession, identity theft, trespassing, larceny, firing a weapon, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and pickpocketing.”  ICE also said Jalloh was “granted a final order of removal by a judge who found he could be removed to any country other than Sierra Leone.”  According to deputy assistant secretary Lauren Bis, Jalloh’s alleged murder of Minter came “less than 24 hours before Governor Spanberger’s demonization of ICE law enforcement.”

In a similar December 2025 case, Marvin Fernando Morales-Ortez, whom DHS described as “a criminal illegal alien from El Salvador, allegedly “brutally murdered a resident inside his home in Reston, Virginia, just ONE DAY after sanctuary politicians REFUSED to honor the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest detainer and RELEASED him from jail,” according to a December 19, 2025 DHS press release.  According to DHS, Morales-Ortez was a “serial criminal” with a history of arrests for “aggravated assault of a police officer, larceny, and disorderly conduct.”  DHS reported that Morales-Ortez illegally entered the country on September 18, 2016 with his mother.  According to DHS, he was designated a “non-enforcement priority” in 2022 when the Biden administration “dismissed his immigration proceedings.”

Prosecutorial discretion in Fairfax may be compounding the issue, as underscored by recent action from the Department of Justice.  The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division recently opened an investigation into Fairfax commonwealth’s attorney Steve Descano’s plea bargaining, charging, and sentencing policies.  DOJ says it is investigating whether Descano’s office discriminated against U.S. citizens by offering preferential treatment to illegal alien criminal defendants.  DOJ also emphasized that it has not “reached any conclusions” in its May 6, 2026 letter to Descano.

Fairfax County and other sanctuary jurisdictions should be able to fairly adjudicate illegal alien cases without shielding arrested criminal aliens from federal custody.  They should also be able to comply with constitutional constraints without treating ICE as the enemy.

The effect of non-cooperation is not without serious consequences.  It places citizens and federal officers at greater risk by allowing removable aliens with criminal records and arrests to re-enter the community.  It also sends a troubling message to law-abiding citizens; their safety is subordinate to an ideologically driven refusal to enforce lawful immigration removal procedures.  Couching these policies in the language of “trust” is especially ironic.  Such language disingenuously conceals dangerous policies that deserve far more public scrutiny.