District Attorney Larry Krasner has challenged Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and another GOP Congressman, in response to letters they sent to Philadelphia officials last week demanding that local leaders provide information about the city’s cooperation — or lack thereof — with federal immigration authorities.

“So let me summarize my response, if I may, in the best Philly way I know,” Krasner said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “Please allow me to quote a Philly expression that you as an Ohioan may or may not know. And that expression is: Pull up. Pull up. Pull up.” 

Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, and U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security and Enforcement, wrote similar messages May 4 to Krasner, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel and Sheriff Rochelle Bilal.

The lawmakers accused Krasner of undermining “the rule of law under the guise of safeguarding the public” and giving “preferential treatment to aliens based solely on their immigration status.”

Krasner asserted that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, under the Trump administration, has unfairly helped undocumented immigrants accused of serious crimes avoid punishment.

“ICE is deporting, before trial, that very small number of undocumented people who commit serious crimes,” he added. “There is no trial, there is no conviction, there is no sentencing, and there is no time that anyone serves in a state prison when there should be a lengthy sentence of incarceration.”

Jordan and McClintock asked the DA’s Office to provide all documents and communications between ICE and prosecutors since Krasner took office in 2018. They also requested, among other things, information about cases involving the department’s immigration counsel.

Krasner’s team was told to provide the documentation by 5 p.m. on Monday, May 18. The DA said he will comply with the timeframe, to the extent possible, and added a few demands of his own.

“The request is, frankly, way too broad,” Krasner said. “It asks for hundreds and hundreds of hours of work that we’re not in a position to provide by then. But it is standard and it is normal to provide what you can provide immediately and to explain how much time you need in order to provide more.”

He called on the Judiciary Committee to hold a public hearing on the subject before the midterm elections this fall.

“I’m available next week, Chairman Jordan,” Krasner remarked. “How about the week after? We got a lot of weeks before November, Chairman Jordan. Let’s go.”

Krasner said his formal response will incorporate a request that the committee and ICE provide information about the number of criminal cases where a defendant has been deported before being able to stand trial. He also wants federal officials to clarify their inability to legally compel local authorities to enforce immigration laws.

The DA focused his attacks on Jordan, discussing the legislator’s alleged knowledge of the sexual assault of students by a doctor at Ohio State University and criticizing the Judiciary Committee’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.

“In my opinion, facts and justice are of little concern to Jim Jordan,” Krasner commented.

Krasner said he has been in contact with Bilal and city attorneys over the Congressional letters; however, he declined to detail those conversations. He made clear that he was responding solely on behalf of the DA’s Office.

Representatives from Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration declined to comment on the matter, and the Sheriff’s Office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon.

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Keywords

Larry Krasner,

Jim Jordan,

Philadelphia politics,

ICE,

immigration,

Philadelphia District Attorney,

Kevin Bethel,

Rochelle Bilal,

Congress,

sanctuary cities