DA Larry Krasner blasts House committee over Philly immigration inquiries

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner formally — and harshly — answered the House Judiciary Committee on Monday, telling the GOP leadership that its inquiries into the city’s handling of immigration issues lack any legal or factual basis.

The Republican-led committee had set a Monday deadline for a reply to letters that broadly criticized Philadelphia law enforcement’s immigration operations and were sent to Krasner, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel, and Sheriff Rochelle Bilal.

Krasner told the committee, which said it was conducting oversight of state and local jurisdictions that it believes endanger American communities by not assisting immigration agents, that such policing powers belong to the city.

“The legal errors are unsurprising,” Krasner wrote to committee chair Jim Jordan of Ohio and Tom McClintock (R., Calif.), chair of the subcommittee on immigration, noting that neither had passed the bar. “The factual errors are also unsurprising, given your histories of adhering to wholly repudiated, counterfactual and unscientific election denialism, climate change denialism, and the like.

“Law matters. Facts matter,” Krasner wrote. “I can only hope they will start to register in your careers, especially as they relate to this supposed oversight of far more qualified law enforcement personnel whose goal is to serve the public rather than to serve themselves.”

The committee had requested a trove of immigration-related records and correspondence from all three Philadelphia officials, and wanted that information by Monday.

Krasner wrote that he needed time to address each of the committee’s allegations and requests. He is working to hire an attorney, who would be in touch soon, he said ― and who would have requests for materials from the committee.

Bethel and Bilal could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday evening. The Police Department referred questions to the city Law Department. Efforts to reach a spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee were unsuccessful.

The committee accused Philadelphia’s top law enforcement officials of shielding criminal immigrants through sanctuary policies. Its move represented an escalation by Trump-allied Republicans in their criticism of Philadelphia government on its rules concerning undocumented residents, particularly in the city’s decisions to limit its cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The May 4 letters accused Krasner of having “undermined the rule of law under the guise of safeguarding the public,” and “openly given preferential treatment” to undocumented immigrants.

At a news conference last week, Krasner said the Trump administration was waging “war against immigrants,” and that he not only welcomed a public hearing before the committee, he demanded one.