Brandon Gill

Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) says Fairfax County, Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano (D) helped an illegal alien, accused of raping an underage teen, evade prison by offering him a deal with reduced charges and a suspended sentence.

During a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, Gill questioned Descano about a case involving illegal alien Ander Cortez-Mendez of Guatemala.

In March 2024, Cortez-Mendez was arrested in Fairfax County and charged by Descano’s office with carnal knowledge of a 13 to 14-year-old.

“This is an illegal alien who raped an underage American,” Gill said.

Two months later, Descano’s office reduced the charges against Cortez-Mendez to a misdemeanor charge of consensual sex with a child and offered him a 90-day suspended prison sentence.

Fairfax County’s refusal to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ensured that Cortez-Mendez was not arrested by federal agents until April 2025 — almost a year after he was convicted of the misdemeanor sex crime.

Gill repeatedly asked Descano if his office reduced the charges against Cortez-Mendez because he was an illegal alien, as he enforces an “immigration consequences” policy that urges prosecutors to take into account a defendant’s illegal alien status and whether felony charges would end up getting the illegal alien deported from the United States.

“Let me ask it a different way: Did your office reduce the charges against this illegal alien from a felony rape charge to a misdemeanor charge with a 90-day suspended jail sentence in part because this was an illegal alien in question?” Gill asked.

Descano said prosecutors “should not have” reduced Cortez-Mendez’s charges based on his illegal alien status, though he refused to give a precise answer.