A new House Judiciary Committee report targeting an Arlington County initiative to resist the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies has drawn sharp criticism from local Republicans, who say the findings expose a disconnect with the region’s deep-blue political identity.
The 23-page interim report, issued by the committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, condemned Arlington’s sanctuary policies. It accused the county and other Democratic-led jurisdictions of placing public safety at risk by adopting rules that limit federal immigration officials’ ability to detain or 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 News Media.
“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.”
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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 committee pointed to what it described as limited cooperation between Arlington law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, citing the county board’s Trust Policy, which sets rules for local police interactions with immigration officials.
The policy, updated in May 2025, bars the Arlington County Police Department “from initiating contact with federal immigration authorities” even when officers identify 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)
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The report also cited a closed-door deposition on July 16, 2026, during which Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, Arlington County and City of Falls Church Commonwealth’s Attorney, acknowledged that her office takes immigration status into account when deciding case outcomes. She also said her written guidelines do not prohibit prosecutors from considering immigration status in any type of case.
Dehghani-Tafti additionally defended a memo instructing prosecutors to consider alternative charges when a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient is charged with driving under the influence.
Because U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services classifies a DUI conviction as a “significant misdemeanor”—a designation that blocks DACA renewal and can lead to deportation—the memo directs prosecutors to consider a defendant’s DACA status in an effort to prevent “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)
Hurtt also characterized Dehghani-Tafti as a left-wing criminal justice activist and criticized Steve Descano, the Commonwealth’s Attorney for nearby Democratic-led Fairfax County. Fairfax has drawn national attention amid a series of crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants.
In a statement obtained by ARLNow, Dehghani-Tafti dismissed the committee’s findings 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.
“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.”
News Media has contacted Dehghani-Tafti’s office, the Sheriff’s Office and the County Board for comment.
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