Local city, county and state officials, especially Democrats and other leftists, often like to impose their own agenda on national issues.
Just review how many local jurisdictions have claimed to be “sanctuary” cities where illegal aliens are protected from the federally defined consequences of their own illegal behavior.
Those policies, in fact, are set by the president, and there is oversight by Congress for the impact of the laws it has adopted.
Now a couple of those locals who have interfered in national policy are being ordered to show up before Congress and explain their agendas.
They are Steve Descano, the attorney for Fairfax County and Michael Dougherty, the district attorney for Boulder, Colorado.
House Judiciary Committee chief Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has subpoenaed them “for information on their offices’ sanctuary policies, including their preferential treatment of illegal aliens to ensure that they do not face immigration consequences for their criminality,” according to a statement from the committee.
NEW: Chairman @Jim_Jordan subpoenaed Fairfax County prosecutor Steve Descano and Boulder DA Michael Dougherty for documents and information on their offices’ sanctuary policies after failing to comply with the Committee’s requests.
Descano’s and Dougherty’s offices both… pic.twitter.com/Baa57o09iT
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) September 16, 2026
The statement included, “Despite boasting about his office’s pro-criminal alien policies for years and testifying in May 2026 that he was proud of the work his office has done, Descano has refused to identify the cases in which prosecutors in his office followed his own written policies and considered immigration consequences for foreign national criminals. Dougherty has failed to produce even a single document in response to the Committee’s requests after more than three months.”
The committee said, “Failing to prosecute or under-prosecuting foreign nationals so that immigration consequences can be avoided implicates Congress’s clear power over immigration, which the Supreme Court repeatedly has recognized.
“Descano’s and Dougherty’s pro-illegal alien policies appear intentionally designed to thwart this authority. Their offices’ lenient treatment of foreign national criminals endangers communities and ensures that criminal aliens escape both criminal and immigration accountability for their actions. Moreover, preferential treatment of foreign nationals by their offices may also violate federal civil rights laws.”
The letter notifying Dougherty of his summons to Washington, for example, explains that the committee previously requested relevant materials from his office.
“Despite repeated requests for responsive documents and communications, you have not produced a single document. Accordingly, because you have failed to comply with the committee’s requests, the committee is serving compulsory process.”
The letter continued, “For months, you have objected to the committee’s requests and failed to produce relevant materials. On June 3, 2026, you questioned the committee’s oversight authority and argued that much of the material requested by the committee is unattainable.”
That explanation was rejected by the committee, as “the Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized Congress’s oversight power as ‘broad and indispensable,’ ‘encompass[ing] inquiries into the administration of existing laws, studies of proposed laws, and surveys of defects in our social, economic or political system for the purpose of enabling the Congress to remedy them.’”
Dougherty was told, “Your office’s lenient treatment of foreign national criminals endangers communities and ensures criminal aliens escape both criminal and immigration accountability for their actions. The policies clearly intersect with federal interests and implicate Congress’s plenary power over immigration.”
Dougherty, in fact, has charged the committee with running “afoul of the anti-commandeering doctrine, under which the federal government may not force state officials to enforce federal immigration objectives.”
But that is a mischaracterization of the committee’s request and Dougherty “misunderstands” the constitutional oversight precedents, the letter warns.
“A response to congressional oversight does not require your office to enforce federal immigration law. As the committee has explained, ‘[c]ongressional oversight routinely encompasses issues involving state criminal justice systems—among many other state and local matters—when they intersect with federal interests,’ such as they do here. Compliance with a congressional subpoena regarding these matters does not in any way violate the anti commandeering doctrine, as it does not commandeer you into federal immigration enforcement but simply compels cooperation with the committee’s legitimate oversight,” the letter warns.
The problem is that Dougherty’s continued “failure to produce the requested documents and information prevents the committee from fulfilling its constitutional oversight obligations.”
But four months after the requests, Dougherty has failed to comply, the letter states.
In fact he told the committee staff, in a telephone call, that producing records was “a waste of everyone’s time.”
“Please find enclosed a subpoena compelling production of the requested documents by September 25, 2026,” the letter said.
Interestingly, City Data confirms that in the categories of violent crime and property crime during 2025, Boulder reported significantly higher rates than the U.S. average.
The city’s crime rate rose by 5% from 2024 to 2025, and it was higher than in 83% of U.S. cities.
