Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner made a promise to a gathered crowd at City Hall on Tuesday that he would always work to ensure Philadelphia residents’ Constitutional rights will not be violated by federal agents.
And, while going so far as to call ICE agents “wannabe Nazis,” Krasner promised that any federal agent who violates those rights or breaks any state law would be held accountable.
Even, he said, if law enforcement officials needed to wait until President Donald Trump was out of office to do so.
“If we have to hunt you down the way they hunted down Nazis for decades, we will find your identities. We will find you. We will achieve justice,” Krasner said.
A day later, on Wednesday, Krasner helped unveil a national coalition of prosecutors who will look to ensure that they can do just that.
Who is on this coalition?
In a statement on the creation of the coalition, officials with the District Attorney’s Office said Krasner will be joined by Mary Moriarty, who is the Hennepin County Attorney and represents Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The coalition will also include:
- Jose Garza, District Attorney, Travis County, Austin, TX
- John Creuzot, District Attorney, Dallas County, Dallas, TX
- Laura Conover, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Pima County, Tucson, AZ
- Steve Descano, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Fairfax County, Fairfax, VA
- Parisa Dehghan-Tafti, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington County and City of Falls Church, VA
- Stephanie Morales, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Portsmouth County, Portsmouth, VA
- Ramin Fatehi, Commonwealth’s Attorney Norfolk, Norfolk, VA
In discussing the coalition on Tuesday, Krasner said they have the law on their side.
“We are up against people who, simply put, find the law inconvenient, because, heaven forbid the Constitution would limit their desires at unlimited power,” he said. “We are going to fight against federal overreach.”
During his announcement, Krasner introduced his colleagues — which he described as the “founding members” of the coalition — as even-handed prosecutors who take their oath of office seriously.
“It is a gathering of people who take democracy seriously and are willing to do what their oath requires, to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the United States,” said Krasner. “And, also a moral oath. There is a moral oath that prosecutors have and that is the oath to seek justice. That is what we are all about.”
Are local law enforcement officials able to prosecute federal agents?
Krasner said that the coalition has formed against what he described as “misinformation you may have heard from mouth of the Vice President.” Krasner also said prosecutors have the ability to bring state criminal charges against federal officials and to prosecute those charges.
“It would be us. It would be local prosecutors seeing through charges from beginning to end,” said Krasner. “Whether they are criminal homicide charges or they are charges having to do with illegal actions to promote a cover-up, such as obstruction of the administration of justice, which is a crime in many jurisdictions. Tampering with evidence, which is a crime. Perjury, false oaths, physical assault, there’s any number of charges that could potentially arise in various jurisdictions where we are seeing, sadly, certain individual ICE officers and federal officers going rogue.”
However, Krasner noted that these concerns are not intended as a criticism of proper law enforcement actions that have gone on within ICE activity.
But, he said, the country is at a critical moment concerning potential violations of the law by federal officials.
“We all know what time it is,” he said. “We all know what this moment is and we all know that things are happening that should not be happening for which people must be accountable, now or in the future.”
Will convictions of federal agents carry weight?
Also, Krasner said, if any ICE or federal official is prosecuted and convicted for violating state law, they shouldn’t expect the Trump administration to be able to make that conviction disappear.
“If we do obtain those convictions and if there are sentences of incarceration or even of probation, the president of the United States cannot pardon them. Period. That is plain,” Krasner said. “There is no question that the president is without the power to pardon people who are convicted in state court.”
And while he said there is a “sliver of immunity” possible, it would likely not apply in the cases of the recent ICE-involved slayings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
“There is a sliver of immunity that is not going to save people who disarm a suspect and then repeatedly shoot him in the back from facing criminal charges,” Krasner said. “There is a sliver of immunity that is not going to save people who are shooting young mothers with no criminal record and no weapon in the side or back of the head, when it’s very clear the circumstances didn’t require any of that.”
Though, he noted that investigations into these shootings are still ongoing and information is limited.
“We are not blind. And, we do know the difference between what we see and what we hear,” said Krasner.
For more information on the coalition, visit federaloverreach.org.
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