Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner takes questions from reporters after a press conference in Harrisburg on Friday, Oct. 21, 2022 (Capital-Star photo).
On Wednesday, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner escalated his public rhetoric over federal immigration authorities by unveiling a national coalition of like‑minded local prosecutors sharing the same donors, of whom he said are ready to charge federal officers they believe break state criminal laws while enforcing immigration policy. The move renewed questions about constitutional limits on local authority over federal agents and about the funding networks backing Krasner and his new political allies.
At a press conference in Center City, Krasner announced what he called the “FAFO collision,” a political and legal partnership with nine other elected prosecutors from jurisdictions that have clashed with federal immigration enforcement. The group publicly brands itself as “Fight Against Federal Overreach,” or FAFO, a name that also echoes a profane online slogan about the consequences of bad behavior that Krasner has used to “appear tough” in prior public remarks about law enforcement accountability.
The coalition members all share the same progressive talking points and funding networks as Krasner, hailing from cities and counties in Minnesota, Arizona, Texas, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, all places where local officials are scrutinizing or openly challenging actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies. Krasner and his counterparts argue that when federal officers cross what they describe as “the line” of state criminal codes, local prosecutors not only may, but must, investigate and bring charges.
This renewed scrutiny on federal immigration comes in the aftermath of two protesters being killed by federal officers in Minnesota while engaging in unlawful protest activities. It has been argued that, had numerous federal requests for local law enforcement assistance been granted and local leaders not characterized these diverse ICE and Border Patrol as the “gestapo”, these deaths would have been prevented.
Defiance.org, a nonprofit founded by former Trump administration Homeland Security official Miles Taylor and activist Xander Schultz to oppose Donald Trump’s use of presidential power, is handling the new coalition’s fundraising and communications. Donations to support FAFO’s work are not tax‑deductible, and the organizers say they intend to raise money for specialized investigators and outside lawyers to buttress local cases against federal officers.
Krasner’s announcement comes amid a series of Philadelphia events in which he has vulgarly “warned” ICE and other federal agents they could be arrested if they commit what he deems crimes in the city, including a recent news conference condemning a fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis. In that earlier appearance, he told agents who “come to Philly to commit crimes” to “get the F out of here” and vowed to charge any officer involved in a similar killing locally.
The rhetoric plays against the backdrop of Article VI of the U.S. Constitution, the Supremacy Clause, which establishes that federal law is “the supreme Law of the Land” over conflicting state and local measures. Legal scholars and federal courts have long recognized that, under this framework, federal officers generally enjoy qualified immunity from state prosecution for actions taken within the scope of their official duties, with disputes over alleged misconduct typically resolved in federal court.
That tension — between local outrage over high‑profile enforcement incidents and the legal shield around federal authority — is at the center of Krasner’s campaign. Ironically, Article VI supremacy is the clause that enabled federal enforcement to the laws that ended a ban on gay marriage, slavery, and segregation.
At minute 7:40 in the DA’s Office recording of Wednesday’s event, Marco Cerino of the Philadelphia Tribune asked Krasner about his jurisdictional restriction under Article VI, and Krasner again rejected the idea that federal status insulates agents from state criminal liability, arguing that presidents and cabinet officials exaggerate federal power to discourage local pushback. Despite knowing better as a former defense attorney, Krasner insisted that nothing prevents district attorneys from filing charges first and then litigating jurisdictional questions later, even if a case is ultimately removed to federal court.
In outlining the coalition’s mission, Krasner and his allies pointed to the fatal 2017 shooting of Bijan Ghaisar by two U.S. Park Police officers on a parkway in northern Virginia. Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, one of the “FAFO coalition” members, previously sought state charges against the officers, Lucas Vinyard and Alejandro Amaya, over the shooting, which occurred after Ghaisar repeatedly drove away during an attempted traffic stop.
Those prosecutions stalled amid jurisdictional disputes and were ultimately dropped after Virginia’s then‑new attorney general moved to end the case, while Biden administration federal officials declined to surrender authority to state court. In late 2024, the Interior Department’s inspector general concluded the officers’ use of force was justified under Park Police policy, clearing them of criminal wrongdoing. The department reinstated both men to active duty in December, and they returned to work last month, nearly seven years after the shooting.
For Krasner’s critics, the Ghaisar case illustrates how far progressive prosecutors are willing to stretch the limits of their authority to pursue federal officers, even when federal investigators and courts have declined to treat uses of force as crimes. Supporters of the FAFO effort counter that state‑level attempts, even when unsuccessful, serve as a check on what they view as systemic federal impunity and as a deterrent against future abuses.
What’s worse, the pathway of prosecuting police officers for political gain is not proven to be successful to Krasner, who has arguably violated the constitution and the civil rights of Philadelphia officers with similar outcomes in the Nicoletti, Bologna, and Pownall cases — resulting in Krasner being the one excoriated on the record by Democratic Justice Dougherty of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Regardless of its questionable legal nature, the “FAFO coalition” launches as the immigration enforcement issue has proven to be the only left-wing issue gaining traction in the early stages of the 2026 midterm cycle. In response, Trump and his allies are portraying big‑city prosecutors and mayors as hostile to federal law enforcement given their refusal to allow local police to assist federal agents nor their simply notifying ICE agents when an illegal immigrant is lawfully brought into a jail on a local charge.
It seems to be the hopes of progressive megadonors and their recipients that Krasner’s moves can energize progressive activists, but may also intensify scrutiny of his office’s priorities as Philadelphia continues to struggle with its own violent crime, corruption, and quality‑of‑life offenses left rather untouched by City Council and the Krasner administration.
The project’s partnership with Defiance.org, a group created explicitly to “defy Trump’s abuses of power,” underscores the overtly political dimension of what Krasner frames as a legal campaign. Questions about outside funding and national donor influence have followed several members of the new alliance, who rose to office with the help of large contributions from criminal‑justice reform networks, including committees backed by billionaire George Soros and his son, Alex.
While local officials spar with the Trump administration over immigration crackdowns, the constitutional debate over federal supremacy and qualified immunity will continue with your tax dollars in the arena where Krasner now appears most eager to fight it: the court of public opinion, rather than an actual court of law.
