Local Virginia GOP chair says Arlington County officials prioritize illegal immigrants over public safety
A recently released House Judiciary Committee report on one Virginia county's effort to resist the Trump administration's immigration enforcement agenda clashes with the region's deep blue politics, according to local Republicans.
The 23-page interim staff report from the committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement heavily criticized Arlington County's sanctuary policies, accusing the county and local Democratic-run jurisdictions of ignoring public safety while advocating policies that make it harder for federal immigration authorities to detain and arrest undocumented immigrants with criminal records.
"Chairman [Jim] Jordan's Judiciary Committee report about Arlington is spot on," Matthew Hurtt, chairman of the Arlington County Republican Committee, told Fox News Digital.
"Arlington elected officials prioritize illegal aliens over the safety of Arlington residents. And as an Arlington resident, I've seen this play out over the last several months."
Federal immigration authorities make an arrest in Arlington, Va., in February. A House Judiciary Committee report heavily criticized Arlington County officials over their sanctuary city policies. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
The report noted the limited cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration authorities. It cited Arlington County's official board Trust Policy rules governing local law enforcement.
The updated May 2025 Trust Policy prohibits the Arlington County Police Department "from initiating contact with federal immigration authorities" even when identifying an undocumented immigrant as a "violent felon, gang member, human trafficker, or terrorist."
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Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, Commonwealth's Attorney for Arlington County & City of Falls Church, Va., speaks at an event at the Center for American Progress about Virginia's newly elected progressive prosecutors Dec. 17, 2019. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
In addition, the committee report referred to a July 16, 2026 closed-door deposition in which Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, acknowledged that her office considers immigration status when determining case outcomes and admitted that written guidelines do not forbid considering immigration status for any crime.
She also defended a memo asking prosecutors to consider other charges when a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient is accused of drunk driving.
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Since U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services classifies a DUI conviction as a "significant misdemeanor," which bars DACA renewal and triggers deportation, the memo instructs prosecutors to consider DACA status to avoid "disproportionate and devastating collateral consequences."
"It's not the job of a prosecutor to decide lenience against illegal aliens who are oftentimes committing violent crimes against individuals or property crimes, but that is exactly what Arlington Commonwealth's Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti has been doing," Hurtt said.
Arlington County Board of Supervisors (from left to right): Julius D. "JD" Spain, Sr., Susan Cunningham, Takis Karantonis, Board Chair Matt de Ferranti and Vice Chair Maureen Coffey. (Arlington County)
"[Dehghani-]Tafti sees herself as a left-wing criminal justice activist," Hurtt added, criticizing Steve Descano, the Commonwealth's Attorney for nearby Democratic-run Fairfax County, which has made national headlines amid a string of crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants.
In a statement obtained by ARLNow, Dehghani-Tafti described the committee report as a "political sham."
"The committee refused to hear my testimony in public because open testimony doesn’t let you distort a record," she said. "This report is the predictable product of that process— a piece of political propaganda timed for the midterms, built on the deliberate misrepresentations of my policies and my testimony.
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"Now it’s clear why they wouldn’t hold a public hearing and why they stonewalled my requests for the full deposition transcript," she added. "They didn’t want the public to see it. I demand the committee release the full, unedited transcript of my deposition immediately."
Fox News Digital has reached out to Dehghani-Tafti's office, as well as the Sheriff's Office and the County Board.
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