A coalition of 10 district attorneys — including prosecutors in Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Dallas — says in a statement expected to be released Tuesday that it will investigate alleged voter intimidation by federal agents sent on President Donald Trump's orders.
“We will pursue ICE agents.”
“A federal badge is not a license to violate the Constitution and is not a shield against state criminal laws,” said Larry Krasner, Philadelphia district attorney. — We will pursue ICE agents who break the law. There is no category of Americans who can act above it, he emphasized.
The coalition also includes Hennepin County, Minnesota, prosecutor Mary Moriarty, who on Monday filed charges against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent for shooting a man during an immigration raid.
“Federal law criminalizes voter intimidation. Minnesota law criminalizes voter intimidation,” Moriarty said. “If ICE officers are dispatched to polling places in Hennepin County to deter voters from the ballot box, my office will investigate and prosecute.”
Their statement, obtained in advance by Politico, came after Trump refused to rule out sending the National Guard or ICE agents to polling places to prevent what he falsely portrayed as voter fraud. “I would do whatever it takes to ensure a fair election,” Trump told reporters last week.
The agents entered the polling station
Members of the coalition, which calls itself the Project to Fight Excessive Federal Intervention, warned the Trump administration that any federal agent sent to polling places in their area would be prosecuted.
The Trump administration's aggressive deployment of federal immigration agents and the National Guard, coupled with the president's history of stoking doubts about the election, has made Democrats concerned about the possibility that he would try to influence the midterm elections by sending in federal forces.
The administration has already taken some steps to oversee the election process. The Department of Justice is suing several states seeking access to state voter records. In January, the FBI raided a voting center in Fulton County, Georgia, to obtain voter records from the 2020 election. Donald Trump claims they were fraudulent.
In February, a Department of Homeland Security official said in a private phone call with election officials that there would be no immigration officers stationed at polling places in November. This information failed to allay Democrats' concerns at the time.
It is unclear whether prosecutors' actions will include working with local law enforcement to prevent federal agents from visiting polling places, or what the potential consequences for the election would be if a prosecutor finds that federal agents committed mass voter intimidation.
In addition to Krasner and Moriarty, the coalition includes Travis County, Texas District Attorney José Garza; Dallas County, Texas District Attorney John Creuzot; and Pima County, Arizona Attorney Laura Conover. From Virginia, the coalition includes: Steve Descano of Fairfax County; Parisa Dehghani-Tafti of Arlington County; Stephanie Morales of Portsmouth; and Ramin Fatehi of Norfolk.
