In some awesome news out of Congress, the House Judiciary Committee is launching investigations into officials in the sanctuary jurisdictions of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Arlington, Virginia, something of the sort that MAGA conservatives have long been demanding the federal government do to start punishing sanctuary jurisdictions.
Particularly, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock (R-CA) demanded documentation regarding Philadelphia’s refusal to work with ICE in an angry series of investigatory letters sent to Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, and Sheriff Rochelle Bilal.
In the letter to Krasner, for example, they said, “The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of state and local jurisdictions that endanger American communities through their refusal to cooperate with federal immigration officials and their prioritization of illegal and criminal aliens over American citizens. We write to request information about your office’s sanctuary policies, which ultimately endanger the communities you serve.”
They continued, “During your tenure, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has routinely undermined the rule of law under the guise of safeguarding the public. For nearly a decade, your office has prohibited communication with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without your final approval, promoted “alternative plea offers or sentencing recommendations” for criminal aliens, and created specialized procedures for defendants who are foreign nationals.”
They added, “Your office also openly gives preferential treatment to aliens based solely on their immigration status, even admitting that “low-level and nonviolent crimes should not lead to deportation or necessarily risk one’s immigration status.” In fact, you created an Immigration Counsel position within your office to evaluate cases involving non-U.S. citizens so that foreign nationals “can avoid unnecessary and unjust consequences” —in other words, to shield criminal aliens from deportation.”
They further noted, “You also openly boast about how your policies have resulted in criminal aliens being released onto Philadelphia streets, free to reoffend. Even in cases involving murder or crimes against minors, a prosecutor in your office may still consider a criminal alien’s potential deportation or other immigration consequences in making prosecution decisions. When your office is not openly favoring dangerous foreign nationals over U.S. citizens, it is using taxpayer dollars to coach outside legal professionals on the best strategies to help criminal aliens avoid immigration consequences for their criminality.”
The other letters were similar. In the one to Arlington County District Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, for example, they wrote, “During your tenure, the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Arlington County and the City of Falls Church has routinely undermined the rule of law under the guise of safeguarding the public. You have boasted, for example, about how your office has “protected people’s DACA status” and “fashioned resolutions that avoid deportation.” In one case, you claimed your office “thought long and hard” about how to prevent a foreign national’s deportation.”
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They continued, “You also appear to have weaponized your office to give preferential treatment to aliens based solely on their immigration status. You previously committed to “take immigration status into consideration when making charging decisions on minor infractions” so aliens can avoid “collateral consequences,” and your office has trained its employees “on the effects of criminal prosecution on immigration status.” In a June 2023 interview, you even claimed that witnessing prosecutors “ignore[e] immigration consequences” motivated you to run for office. You have wrongly characterized routine ICE arrests of criminals as abductions. The effects of your office’s soft-on-crime, pro-criminal alien policies have been devastating.”