In March, a criminal illegal alien stabbed Stephanie Minter to death at a bus stop. Last week, her mother gave a strong and courageous testimony on Capitol Hill, speaking about her daughter’s fierce faith in God, vibrant smile, and love for family. Sitting to her left was the man whose pro-criminal policies led to Stephanie’s death: Soros-backed Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano.
Stephanie’s alleged murderer, Abdul Jalloh, was a known, repeat, violent offender. In fact, the Fairfax County Police Department had warned Descano’s office about this man multiple times. Over the years, Jalloh had been charged with numerous crimes, including malicious wounding, aggravated assault, and rape. Yet, Descano’s office had dropped more than half of Jalloh’s criminal charges, ignored warnings from police, and let him loose in the community.
This woke, radical ignorance caused Stephanie’s death earlier this year. Her horrific murder was senseless, tragic, and entirely preventable. Had Fairfax County government officials prioritized the safety of innocent Americans over criminals and illegal aliens, Stephanie may still be alive today.
Sadly, Stephanie is only the latest victim of radical policies enforced by pro-criminal prosecutors. Descano’s deliberate moves to decarcerate and under-prosecute criminals are part of a nationwide, left-wing effort to remake America’s criminal justice system by installing pro-criminal, anti-cop prosecutors bankrolled by billionaire George Soros.
Over the last decade, the Soros strategy has elected more than a hundred radical prosecutors across America. For Soros and his cronies, buying law enforcement officials who refuse to enforce the law is a cost-effective strategy. After all, it’s a whole lot cheaper to back local prosecutorial races than multi-billion-dollar presidential campaigns or multi-million-dollar gubernatorial elections.
I have witnessed Soros and his entities try to infiltrate Arkansas, and I’ve worked hard to keep them out. If a Soros prosecutor took office in my state, it would have jeopardized the safety of Arkansas communities and put Arkansans in harm’s way.
Every Soros-backed victory is a win for criminals and a blow to their victims. From New York to Los Angeles and everywhere in between, Soros prosecutors have gone above and beyond to coddle violent, career criminals, cut sweetheart plea deals, and circumvent the law on the books. By 2024, at least 30 percent of Americans lived in a Soros-backed prosecutor’s jurisdiction. And these communities have fared about as you would expect.
In Chicago, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx was Soros’s first big win. She refused to prosecute thefts valued at less than one thousand dollars, oversaw a surge in violent crime, and had more than five thousand homicides occur on her watch. Also consider Baltimore, where State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby — who called the criminal-justice system racist, denounced the police, and refused to prosecute drug traffickers — watched as murders jumped past 300 during her first year in office, and every year after that. Two years after voters turned her out, she was convicted of perjury and filing a false mortgage application.
And then of course, there was District Attorney Rachael Rollins in Boston, who went as far as to publish a list of 15 crimes she wouldn’t prosecute, including drug trafficking, resisting arrest, and malicious destruction of property. When Joe Biden elevated her to U.S. Attorney, every single Democrat in the Senate voted to confirm her, including Kamala Harris, who cast the tie-breaking vote. She resigned from office barely a year later, after the Department of Justice found her guilty of leaking sensitive information, meddling in local politics, and violating laws and ethics regulations. It makes sense why Rollins went to such lengths to protect criminals: she was one.
How many more American lives must be sacrificed to woke justice? How many more mothers like Stephanie Minter’s must grieve the loss of their sons and daughters?
It’s time to defeat every single Soros prosecutor. While some have already been held accountable by voters, every last one of them — including Descano — must be recalled, removed, and replaced with prosecutors who will uphold the rule of law and keep Americans safe.
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Senator Tom Cotton represents the State of Arkansas.
