The Left’s Demand for ‘Equity’ in Immigration Enforcement
What the Fairfax prosecutor, ‘open borders’ advocates, and the DHS funding shutdown all have in common
By Andrew R. Arthur on April 7, 2026
The sprawling D.C. suburb of Fairfax County, Va., has an immigrant murderer problem: Three of the four individuals facing murder charges there this year are illegal aliens. Don’t tell Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano, however, because he has bigger issues on his mind. You might be surprised to learn that “equity” is the common bond that ties Descano’s strict (and senseless) sanctuary policies, “open borders”, and the ongoing DHS shutdown together.
The “Why” Behind Biden’s Non-Enforcement Policies
The most common questions I was asked by reporters during the Biden administration all began with the adverb “why”: Why does Border Patrol keep allowing illegal migrants to cross? Why won’t agents detain them? Why is DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas allowing illegal alien criminals to remain on the street?
“Prosecutorial discretion” was the excuse given for each of those policies — the non-deterrence and releases at the border and the refusals to take criminal aliens into custody — and the Bidenistas’ argument was that if the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) allows DHS to prevent aliens from entering and to apprehend and detain removable aliens, it also allows DHS not to take those actions.
In that context, however, prosecutorial discretion is how Biden’s DHS implemented those policies, not the why.
The why can be found buried deep in a September 2021 document issued by the department, captioned “Significant Considerations in Developing Updated Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law”, but better known (to the extent it’s known at all) as the “Considerations memo”.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Lefts-Demand-Equity-Immigration-Enforcement
