Northeast
Philadelphia’s threat to prosecute ICE could trigger landmark court fight over authority, experts warn
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The Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and legal scholars laid out what could happen if Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner follows through on his promise to prosecute ICE for acts committed in the line of their duty, should operations in Pennsylvania reach a flashpoint.
Last week, Krasner warned he would prosecute agents who “come to Philly to commit crimes” in an apparent reference to allegations an agent acted unlawfully in shooting a Minnesota woman who appeared to intentionally hit him with her car while disrupting an operation.
Philadelphia County Sheriff Rochelle Bilal doubled down, calling ICE officers “fake, wannabe law enforcement” and warned them they “don’t want this smoke ‘cause we will bring it to you.”
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Krasner argued President Donald Trump could not pardon arrested agents because any cases would be brought at the state level, leading Fox News Digital to ask officials and experts to weigh in on what the true case may be.
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, the chair of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties at Ohio State’s college of law, and an expert in immigration and criminal law that is at nexus in this case, said interfering with federal law enforcement carrying out their job duties is just as much of a crime as killing someone without legal justification.
“Immigration agents are permitted to enforce federal immigration laws within any community in the United States, including Philadelphia, but local police officers there are equally authorized to investigate anyone who they suspect of having committed a violent crime.”
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While federal and local authorities often work in tandem in important operations to deconflict potential flash points, Hernandez said that dynamic has “clearly broken down in cities like Minneapolis” and that Krasner’s comments suggest it’s “frayed” in Philadelphia.
If trust is broken between local and federal authorities, actions like Krasner’s pledge may lead to court battles to determine supremacy.
Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano — a former professor of strategic studies at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle — predicted the feds would win any litigation due to the Supremacy Clause, which reads that “the supreme law of the land and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.”
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He added in recent comments to Fox News Digital that the “Constitution is not optional” and if Philadelphia officials think they can “bully” Washington, they will find out “that’s not how America works.”
Hernandez said, “It is absolutely clear that no one — not even federal law enforcement officers — can do anything they like in the course of carrying out their job duties.”
“The hard question is where the line is drawn. That is what courts are set up to do, but they can only play their part if law enforcement officials investigate what happened, then prosecutors dig in to see whether there is a legal basis for filing criminal charges.”
When asked how they would treat such a case, a Justice Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital the DOJ has a “zero-tolerance policy for violence against law enforcement and will hold offenders accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
A top attorney at the Washington investigative nonprofit Oversight Project said that Philadelphia officials have to be “bluffing.”
“Any local arrest of a federal law enforcement official for performing federal law enforcement functions would be blatantly unlawful. Any ICE agents would be immediately released and the local officials should face charges for obstructing federal law enforcement.”
“This is hornbook constitutional law that every law student in America learns early in their schooling,” he said, adding that residents in cities where prosecutors believe they can pursue federal agents deserve officials with a “basic rudimentary understanding of law.”
DHS also weighed in, saying that the city would have no legal leg to stand on if prosecutors were to decide to interfere in any Minneapolis-style operations on Broad Street.
“Enforcing federal immigration laws is a clear federal responsibility under Article I, Article II and the Supremacy clause,” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
It would be up to Congress then to give local officials any carveouts, she suggested.
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Philadelphia County Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, center, speaks as DA Larry Krasner, left, listens. (Office of Philadelphia County Sheriff)
“Our law enforcement is enforcing federal law — if politicians and activists don’t like the law, they should try to change it instead of demonizing our brave men and women in uniform.”
McLaughlin said Philadelphia is not alone in anti-enforcement rhetoric, and laid out the stakes of what kind of lawlessness could have continued in Pennsylvania if her agency hadn’t already begun taking criminal illegal immigrants off the streets.
She pointed to DHS’ recent capture of Yehia Badawi, an Egyptian illegal immigrant convicted of aggravated assault and robbery in Philadelphia.
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McLaughlin also shared the names of a Cuban drug trafficker, a Cambodian methamphetamine dealer and several other illegal immigrants convicted of violent crimes, including rape.
Krasner’s office did not return a request for comment, and Bilal referred further questions to the DA after a spokesperson told Fox News Digital that lawmakers in Harrisburg do not decide who gets arrested in Philadelphia.
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Pittsburg, PA
Mother’s Day Weekend in Pittsburgh will see rain chances, clouds, and even some sunshine
Rain chances for the weekend have adjusted. The chance for rain overall is higher today through Sunday. There is now a chance for some thunderstorms on Saturday evening.
Mother’s Day rain works its way through our area all day long.
There are some pretty big changes when it comes to the timing of rain and even storms for the weekend. What was looking pretty easy, with Saturday morning rain and then Sunday afternoon to evening rain, has now become a little more complex.
Some of this started yesterday as we began to see Saturday morning’s rain chance sneaking into Friday evening. That has continued today with fairly widespread rain expected to arrive as soon as around 6 p.m. for Pittsburgh.
Even ahead of the main round of rain, isolated showers will be around this morning, and scattered showers will roll through at times this afternoon. Overall rain totals should be less than a quarter of an inch before midnight.
Rain will continue overnight, with consistent rain wrapping up around 9 a.m. on Saturday. There will be more rain working its way through the area later Saturday evening, with the potential during this time for a storm or two. Sandwiched between the morning rain and the evening storms will be a really nice day, so make sure you get out and enjoy it.
Highs on Saturday may hit 70 degrees. I have Pittsburgh seeing a high of just 68°. Noon temperatures should already be near 60°.
Sunday’s rain chance is now low, with just a scattered rain chance.
Unlike what it looked like earlier this week, I can’t rule out a passing shower over the course of the day.
Still, more than 80 percent of your Sunday will be dry. There will be plenty of time to take mom out and to enjoy a nice meal or a nice walk. Sunday highs should be in the mid-60s with morning temperatures in the upper 40s. Skies on Sunday will be mostly cloudy to overcast.
The best chance for rain next week comes on Wednesday. Your rain chance next week for any other place is looking VERY low. Temperatures will be in the low 60s for highs on Monday and Tuesday, but we should be seeing 70s for highs late in the work week and next weekend.
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Stephanie Cotsirilos lived in the Bangor area for 17 years and now lives in Portland.
I never thought I’d draft legislation, but after I witnessed Maine voters being intimidated in 2002, I did. A year after the bill passed, Shenna Bellows met me for lunch to tell me how she and her ACLU colleagues were making sure the new voter protections were followed. At that restaurant table, I recognized something at Shenna’s core: her conviction that, without access to the ballot, we lose all our other rights.
She acts on that truth even when it’s personally risky. Maine and the nation have witnessed her weathering attacks, then returning to Mainers’ needs. Now, when we rely on states as bulwarks against federal aggression, she will be the courageous and compassionate governor we need, in part because she remembers what happened in 2002.
That year, I was a volunteer voter protection attorney in Orono. I watched both familiar
and unidentified persons at the polls challenge, on the spot, UMaine students’ right to cast a ballot. By dinner time, the challenges occurred once every minute. All voting stopped. The voter’s name was announced aloud. Students flushed red and turned on their heels to leave rather than be called out publicly for having done nothing wrong. Poll watchers began documenting each challenge.
Another lawyer showed up to help witness the three Orono polling sites. The Secretary of State’s office was on notice. Finally, I filed a written complaint with an elections warden. Still, the harm was done. That election yielded more challenged Maine ballots than in the prior decades combined.
Having seen what voter suppression looked like, some Orono residents who’d participated in the challenges apologized. At the time, however, Maine law permitted polling-place challenges without evidence, simply by asserting lack of “residency.” Some folks believed that the Maine Constitution prohibits all students from voting where they go to school. But that’s not accurate.
While the Maine Constitution says students aren’t entitled to vote in a municipality solely because they go to school there, Maine statutes clearly state that neither can students be prohibited from voting where they attend school — as long as they meet age, citizenship and residency requirements like anyone else.
So after the election, my town colleagues and I gathered data, researched and drafted the current voter challenge law. It allows a person to exercise her right to challenge someone she believes is unqualified to vote at a polling place — as long as she signs a sworn affidavit that identifies herself as challenger, the person challenged and the reasons and source of information supporting the challenge.
Passing a law is one thing, though. Following it is another. Shenna and her colleagues ensured that the new law was followed, resources like Maine Students Vote have emerged and unjustified polling place confrontations have fallen dramatically.
Fast forward to now. Shenna’s a leader among nationwide secretaries of state with whom she closely collaborates — refusing to give away our private voter information to the federal government and resisting presidential executive orders seeking to illegally federalize elections.
As she’s explained on national media, under the United States Constitution elections are
managed by the states — with adjustments, if proper, to be made by Congress, not the executive. Meanwhile, Shenna’s instituted online voter registration and, in furtherance of civil rights, paused issuance of undercover Maine license plates to ICE in light of its lawless tactics.
Shenna routinely obtains bipartisan support for her work and was elected — three times — to the Legislature from a Trump district because she cares authentically about her neighbors’ needs, like property tax relief, and does something about them.
In short, Shenna champions our ability to govern ourselves, to pursue our values and economic well-being in Maine as we see fit. She knows that all those things — and our democracy — depend on our making choices in the voting booth without fear of intimidation.
Because she’s fought for such foundational freedom all her life, and fights for it now, I’ll
rank Shenna my first choice for governor on June 9.
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