Paul Davis: ICEbreakers 2 — Larry Krasner and the War on ICE
In my last column, I covered the war on ICE by the protestors who are disrupting ICE operations and attacking the special agents as the federal officers attempt to rid Minneapolis of the worst of the worst of the illegal aliens who have committed violent crimes in the U.S.
The war on ICE is also engaged closer to home right here in Philadelphia. On January 14th, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner spoke out against ICE agents.
Krasner, the progressive activist DA who appears to be more interested in taking on President Trump than prosecuting local criminals, spoke outside City Hall in support of the proposed “ICE OUT” legislation.
“This is a small bunch of wannabe Nazis,” Krasner said to supporters, onlookers and the press. “That’s what they are. In a country of 350 million, we outnumber them.”
As if addressing the ICE special agents, Krasner vowed, “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.”
The ICE OUT legislation was the work of City Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Rue Landau. They introduced a series of bills that would limit how ICE is able to enforce federal immigration laws within city limits.
The proposed legislation, which I hope and trust cooler heads will defeat, would bar ICE agents from cooperation between city agencies and federal officers, deny data sharing, and would limit federal agents from access to city libraries, health centers and other public areas without a judicial warrant.
Krasner earlier warned that any ICE agent who is going to come to Philly to commit crimes should “get the ‘eff’ out of here.” He added that he would arrest and prosecute ICE agents.
On January 29th, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office issued a press release that stated that Krasner and a group of “reformed” prosecutors around the country launched a coalition to assist in prosecuting federal law enforcement officers who violate state laws.
“The national coalition, which includes locally-elected, top prosecutors, announced the formation of the Project for the “Fight Against Federal Overreach,” or F.A.F.O., an effort to hold federal officials accountable when they exceed their lawful authority, especially in states around the country where federal agents are being surged.
“The coalition launches amid growing concerns about warrantless entries, unlawful detentions, and coercive enforcement tactics by federal agents, and it’s intended to ensure that constitutional limits on federal power are actively enforced through lawful institutions.”
The press release noted that the founding participants include district attorneys from Minneapolis (Mary Moriarty); Philadelphia (Larry Krasner); Austin, TX (Jose Garza); Fairfax, VA (Steve Descano); Falls Church & Arlington, VA; (Parisa Dehghani-Tafti); Portsmouth, VA (Stephanie Morales); Norfolk, VA (Ramin Fatehi); Dallas, TX, (John Creuzot); and Pima County, AZ (Laura Conover).
The press release added that the coalition will share strategies and best practices among prosecutors, provide regular public updates on efforts to rein in unlawful federal conduct and educate the public on what paths are legally available, and coordinate accountability efforts across jurisdictions.
“No agency or officer is above the law,” Krasner stated in the press release. “When federal agents exceed their lawful authority, local prosecutors have both the power and the duty to act. The project exists to ensure that accountability is real, coordinated, and enforced through lawful institutions.”
Krasner’s inflammatory and unrealistic remarks drew criticism from his own party in Pennsylvania, including from Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
“That kind of rhetoric is unacceptable, it is abhorrent, and it is wrong — period, hard stop, end of sentence,” Shapiro said.
Also critical of Krasner is Democratic U.S. Senator John Fetterman. Fetterman, speaking to Fox News, suggested that Krasner “lighten up, Francis,” a reference to when actor Warren Oates, portraying an Army drill instructor, says this phrase to a wound-up recruit in the 1981 comedy “Stripes.”
Across the Senate aisle, Republican U.S. Senator Dave McCormick called Krasner a disgrace on January 31st.
Speaking to Newsmax, Senator McCormick stated that Krasner should be condemned for his rhetoric.
“Larry Krasner in Pennsylvania is an absolute disgrace,” McCormick said. “He’s the district attorney in Philadelphia and he literally compared those ICE agents to Nazis and said we should hunt them down. That kind of rhetoric has no place, it only leads to violence,” he added.
McCormick went on to state that President Trump is leading the charge in fulfilling his primary campaign promise, noting that Trump campaigned on the promise to secure the border and to deport violent illegal alien criminals.
I’m fairly certain that Larry Krasner does mind the criticism from the opposing political party as well as from his own political party, as I suspect he craves national attention. And attacking President Trump and federal ICE agents is a sure way to attract national attention.
Now if only the poor crime victims in Philadelphia could get our District Attorney’s attention.
Paul Davis’s Crime Beat column appears here each week. He is also a contributor to Broad + Liberty and Counterterrorism magazine. He can be reached via pauldavisoncrime.com.
