
PHILADELPHIA, PA— Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner this past week said his office would defy executive orders from President Trump that violated existing law, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
This comes as a Department of Justice memo was released which threatened possible criminal charges for local officials who do not cooperate with the federal government.
According to the Inquirer, Krasner stated, “My office is a law enforcement entity. We are going to follow the Constitution and uphold the law.”
Krasner, a Democrat and frequent critic of President Trump, gave these comments shortly after the Justice Department released the memo written by Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove.
Renee Garcia, Philadelphia’s Solicitor General stated, “Philadelphia’s status as a sanctuary city remained in place, and that officials would continue with a variety of practices regarding how and when agencies interact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including complying with federal requests to detain immigrants who have been arrested only if such requests are accompanied by a warrant,” wrote the Inquirer.
Bove, the memo’s author, argued states and localities are legally bound to cooperate with the Justice Department under the Constitution’s supremacy clause, and federal prosecutors are urged to investigate claims of local agencies “resisting, obstructing, and otherwise failing to comply with lawful immigration-related commands,” reported the Inquirer.
The memo states such prosecutions could be brought as conspiracy offenses or as violations of laws prohibiting harboring people in the country illegally, with Bove charging, “It is the responsibility of the Justice Department to defend the Constitution, and accordingly, to lawfully execute the policies that the American people elected President Trump to implement.”
In response, Krasner stated his intention to comply with “constitutionally supported laws requiring certain conduct.”
But Krasner stressed in a statement, he is “trying to normalize the notion that President Trump has authority he doesn’t have — that his preferences, his wishes, his frankly fascist agenda is something he can enforce local officials to follow even when there is no legal authority empowering him to make them do so.”
However, Krasner declined to speculate in the Inquirer which requests from federal immigration authorities his office would ignore, stating, “My office is a law enforcement entity. We are going to follow the Constitution and uphold the law. We are under no obligation to do things that are illegal … or simply on Donald Trump’s fascist wish list, where he has no authority to compel our conduct.”
Krasner has vigorously opposed Trump, including by filing suit against Elon Musk, a top Trump surrogate and donor, accusing him of running an illegal lottery by giving vast sums of money away to voters in exchange for registering, said the Inquirer, noting a judge later tossed the suit.
It is uncertain how frequently Krasner’s office would engage with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents during Trump’s new term, even if the agency increased immigration raids in the city, the Inquirer wrote.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has already dedicated resources to cases involving immigrants, which includes attempting to protect immigrants accused of nonviolent crimes from being deported, which is likely to draw the ire of Trump’s Justice Department.
Krasner said having attorneys focused on working with immigrants, especially witnesses or victims, was beneficial in many ways, such as encouraging court attendance. However, he expressed uncertainty about how to interpret the memo’s warnings regarding local policies, according to the Inquirer.
Krasner remarked, “The truth is almost everything they’re doing seems to be a footrace between evil and incompetence,” adding “It’s not even comprehensible,” according to the Inquirer.
The Trump administration has been deporting “criminal” migrants. The country strongly supports this.
Deporting all immigrants living in the United States illegally who have been convicted of a violent crime is polling at 82% for the policy while those against poll at a paltry 6%,