Philly DA Larry Krasner, lawmakers vow to continue defying feds on immigration

At a Friday press conference convened by state Sen. Sharif Street in Philadelphia to push back against recent federal immigration actions – including a Tuesday raid by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials that detained seven people at a Northeast Philadelphia car wash – Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner made his point in English and, briefly, Spanish: Philadelphians are not obligated to cooperate with legally dubious U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions ordered by the Trump administration.

“We all accept and recognize that ICE is going to do what it is legally and constitutionally entitled to do. As a law enforcement officer, we would not interfere with that,” he said. “But let me tell you what it’s not entitled to do: It’s not entitled to start punching people for fun. It’s not entitled to engage in criminal acts at the same time it’s engaging in legal acts … An ICE agent can be prosecuted in the city of Philadelphia for doing criminal things that go beyond their rights – and the law is crystal-clear.

“We have an authoritarian president who’s a criminal. He has been convicted of 34 felonies,” Krasner added. “And that person is saying, all of you elected officials, all you police departments, all you branches of state law enforcement – do my work. The law says no … The feds can’t commandeer state law enforcement and make them do Nazi stuff.”

Krasner’s point was seconded by Street, who chairs the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. “There needs to be some level of due process before you approach a person,” he said. “You cannot look at someone and determine whether they look undocumented … How different do I look than someone who was born in Jamaica or someone who was born in Haiti?”

Addressing reports that many immigrants have effectively gone into hiding since the rates were threatened early last week, Street also urged Philadelphians to continue attending school, medical appointments and other vital activities.

State Rep. Danilo Burgos, the son of Dominican immigrants, noted that undocumented Pennsylvanians paid millions of dollars in taxes into state coffers last year. “So the notion that undocumented individuals that are part of the fabric of our communities are criminals – it’s insane,” he said.

“I encourage all of our citizens to call our federal partners and let them know that we need an immigration reform now – that this abuse of our neighbors, of our friends, of our family members, needs to stop.”

Jasmine Rivera, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigrant Coalition – and herself part of a family of undocumented immigrants – called for an immigrants’ general strike on Super Bowl Sunday. “That means immigrant businesses are closed. That means immigrant workers stay at home, and immigrant customers stay home too,” she said. Instead, she urged new Americans to spend their dollars at local businesses on Valentine’s Day, to “show what the City of Brotherly Love is really about.”

Bangladesh-born Philadelphia City Councilmember Nina Ahmad, who introduced herself as “the only immigrant serving on City Council,” warned that the federal immigration crackdown is not only morally and legally problematic but also a threat to public health at a perilous moment. “I can tell you, this is a dangerous way to divide our communities: make people go into the dark shadows,” she said. “Viruses don’t stay in dark shadows.” 

With the threat of avian influenza looming as a public health threat, Ahmad added, “if you're too afraid to go get health care, not only are you imperiling yourself, you’re going to make your neighbor who might have the right documentation status also sick … All of us will suffer. ”