Philly DA: Local officials don’t have to comply with Trump administration’s immigration crackdown
Share this post:
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Friday local elected officials and law enforcement cannot be forced to comply with the Trump administration’s “Nazi stuff,” referring to the president’s planned crackdown on immigration.
“Local law enforcement can volunteer to do Nazi stuff,” said Krasner, a Democrat. “I’m sure I stand with all my colleagues up here when we say nope, N-O-P-E, nope. Maybe there are some local law enforcement who want to put on jackboots and gray uniforms and march behind this, but not us.”
The comment came during a news conference Friday at Philadelphia City Hall where state representatives and City Council members condemned President Donald Trump’s actions on immigration, including rescinding guidance that once barred federal agents from entering churches, schools and hospitals. Reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity have reverberated around the Philadelphia area since Trump took office, heightening anxieties for immigrant communities. This week, ICE agents raided a North Philadelphia car wash, arresting seven people and triggering a protest.
Officials on Friday aimed to make the public aware of Philadelphia’s intentions to protect its immigrant communities in the sanctuary city.
Krasner, who has long positioned himself as and campaigned on being a staunch adversary to Trump, is expected to launch his reelection bid for a third term as DA in the coming weeks. This month, former Philadelphia Judge Patrick Dugan announced his bid to challenge Krasner.
Krasner said the basis of local officials’ noncompliance with federal orders is supported by the Anti-Commandeering Doctrine, which is based on the Tenth Amendment and says “the federal government cannot require states or state officials to adopt or enforce federal law,” according to SCOTUSBlog.
A memo from Trump’s Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, published in various news outlets last week, threatened consequences for local officials who do not cooperate with Trump’s plans to crack down on immigration, adding local officials are legally bound to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice based on the Constitution’s supremacy clause.
In light of that memo, Krasner said he and his staff would not comply with any immigration orders that break the law.
He expressed a similar sentiment Friday, also acknowledging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “is going to do what it is legally and constitutionally entitled to do.
“As a law enforcement officer, we would not interfere with that,” Krasner said.
But Krasner added his office will not hold back from prosecuting ICE agents in Philadelphia for doing “criminal things that go beyond their rights.”
“Any ICE agent, any Proud Boy who thinks hate crimes are cool, thinks, ‘I can get away with anything because there’s a king in DC?’ No, you can’t. That’s not how it’s going to work,” Krasner said.
“If you are so inclined to break the law to harm immigrants … if you are inclined to use them as your scapegoat, harm them, be cruel to them, you better do it within the law, and if you don’t, try me.”