A Democratic prosecutor dedicated to helping illegal migrant criminals avoid serious convictions is threatening to throw the book at federal immigration agents.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner vowed to arrest and convict any Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who purportedly commits a crime under his jurisdiction. The comments were made during a Thursday press conference held in reaction to a deadly incident in Minneapolis in which a protester was shot after allegedly attempting to run an ICE agent over with her car.
“If any law enforcement agent, any ICE agent is gonna come to Philly to commit crimes, then you can get the F out of here,” Krasner said during the press conference.
“I will charge you with those crimes. You will be arrested. You will stand trial. You will be convicted,” the Democratic prosecutor continued. “Donald Trump cannot pardon you for a state court conviction. Do you hear me, ICE agents?”
The hardline statements mark a far different approach Krasner has taken with criminal migrants over the years.
Shortly after entering office in 2018, the liberal prosecutor created the Immigration Counsel position in order to provide consultations on cases specifically involving foreign nationals. Krasner initially stated the position would work to achieve “immigration-neutral” outcomes, which in practice means evaluating and possibly lowering charges against migrants, including illegal immigrants, to ensure their conviction would not result in their deportation.
Krasner’s office repeatedly suggested early on that the Immigration Counsel would only focus on cases involving “low-level” offenders, but a case list obtained by a conservative immigration group in 2021 revealed that his office consulted in a myriad of cases involving foreign nationals accused of gruesome crimes, such as rape of a child, rape, sexual assault, arson and murder.
An additional case list released in 2024 revealed the Immigration Counsel has continued to be involved in serious criminal cases. Kranser’s office consulted with or worked on 21 aggravated assault, domestic violence and other crimes of violence cases; 26 possession of drugs with intent to distribute cases; 12 firearm cases; nine rape and indecent assault and sexual assault on a child cases, nine robbery or burglary cases and one vehicular homicide case, according to a case list for the 2023 calendar year.
“The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office stands by its policy of avoiding unjust immigration outcomes to ensure immigrants, citizens and noncitizens, participate in the legal process, thus keeping our communities and residents safe,” a spokesperson for Krasner’s office told the DCNF.
Krasner, a champion of criminal justice reform, has long refused to cooperate with ICE. Shortly after President Donald Trump began his second term in office, the Philadelphia prosecutor was among a slate of local Democrats who vowed to resist federal immigration enforcement.
“We have an authoritarian president who’s a criminal,” Krasner said during a January 2025 press conference. “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.”
Krasne is among a slate of liberal district attorneys who have received immense financial backing by billionaire George Soros.
He first won election to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office in 2017, after Soros dropped well over $1 million to fund a super PAC in support of him in the Democratic primary. Like all Soros-backed prosecutors, Krasner ran on a left-wing approach to criminal justice, which calls for ending mass incarceration and shielding migrants from ICE agents.
Update: This article has been updated to include comment from Kranser’s office.Â
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