District Attorney Larry Krasner is organizing a crew to advance his frequent vow to prosecute any federal law enforcement officials who commit crimes.
Krasner and eight other progressive prosecutors from across the country have founded a coalition with the aim of helping each other litigate such cases, and raising funds to counter the U.S. Justice Department’s efforts to quash them.
They hail from Minneapolis — where police and prosecutors are investigating the fatal shootings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents — and from cities and counties in Arizona, Texas and Virginia.
The group launched Wednesday and calls itself Fight Against Federal Overreach, or FAFO. That’s also the acronym for “F— around and find out,” a phrase Krasner often uses when he promises to prosecute rogue law enforcement officials or people seeking to interfere in elections.
The announcement follows widespread reports of alleged civil rights violations by ICE agents in Minneapolis and statements from the Trump administration that have raised doubts about the integrity of federal investigations of the shootings.
Vice President JD Vance said the agent who shot Renee Good was “protected by absolute immunity,” and federal officials have refused to cooperate with investigations by Minnesota officials into both shootings.
“We find ourselves in a moment when one of the most effective tools to try to preserve democracy in the United States is state prosecutors,” Krasner said during a virtual press conference for the new coalition. “Despite the misinformation you have heard from the mouth of the Vice President, we do have the ability to bring state criminal charges against federal officers and to prosecute those cases to conclusion.”
Calls absolute immunity “absolute nonsense”
Krasner said it’s up to state and county prosecutors to prosecute federal officers for crimes such as homicide or illegally covering up misconduct. The latter could bring charges such as obstructing the administration of justice, tampering with evidence, perjury and false oaths, he said.
Vance’s claim of absolute immunity is “absolute nonsense,” Krasner said.
“There is a sliver of immunity that is not going to save people who disarm a suspect and then repeatedly shoot him in the back, from facing criminal charges,” he said. “There is a sliver of immunity that is not going to save people who are shooting young mothers with no criminal record and no weapon, in the side or back of the head, when it’s very clear the circumstances didn’t require any of that.”
Under an 1890 U.S. Supreme Court decision, federal officers do have immunity from state prosecution for “necessary and proper” actions performed while doing their jobs.
On a few occasions, courts have allowed such prosecutions to go ahead. In 2001, a federal Appeals Court ruled that Idaho could prosecute a manslaughter charge against an FBI sharpshooter who killed white separatist Vicki Weaver during the Ruby Ridge standoff of 1992. It was the first time a federal agent had ever been charged as a killer while doing their job, NPR reported.
Steve Descano, Commonwealth’s Attorney in Fairfax County, Virginia, said he and then-Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring brought state charges against two U.S. Park Police officers who fatally shot a man in 2017 after a traffic collision and car chase.
“If you break state law, you’ll have to answer to the state authorities. I know because I’ve done it,” Descano said during the press conference. “I’ve done it right here from this office, and there is no federal pardon power that can help you escape answering for your crimes.”
It’s unclear, however, if a federal law enforcement officer has ever been successfully convicted on state homicide charges for actions taken as part of their work. In the Ruby Ridge case, for example, after the court allowed the charges, a newly elected county prosecutor decided to drop them.
In Fairfax County, a federal district judge ruled that the U.S. Park Police officers had immunity, and Descano and the state appealed. After Herring lost his bid for reelection, Virginia’s new Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, ordered the appeal dropped in 2022.
Holding people accountable
While prosecuting federal officers is difficult, the FAFO prosecutors said they felt compelled to try because they believe ICE is violating citizens’ constitutional rights and the Justice Department has shown it is not willing to defend them.
“Quite frankly, what’s going on in America is wrong, and violates every concept and principle of what we hold America to be dear,” said John Creuzot, the district attorney in Dallas, Texas. “Democracy is at stake. Freedom of speech, freedom of protest, is at stake. American justice and accountability are all at stake.”
“Never in my life, and never in my 43 years of practicing law, have I seen federal law enforcement or even local law enforcement weaponized against American citizens, otherwise peaceful individuals,” he said.
Ramin Fatehi, the Commonwealth’s Attorney in Norfolk, Virginia, said the group was not formed to argue with the Trump administration’s deportation policies, even though many of the members feel they are “immoral and counterproductive.”
Rather, they have organized “to say that when you cross the line, the line of our criminal codes, that is where we step in,” he said. “That is where we hold people accountable.”
The attorneys formed FAFO to formalize their sharing of strategies, and to solicit donations to pay for forensic investigators and specialized lawyers that small county prosecutors’ officers may need to bring on when the Justice Department challenges the validity of their cases, they said.
“What this group of extraordinary people is offering is a chance for the nation to support us, so that when we have to go into federal court as local DAs and sue on behalf of democracy and the Constitution, and to hold harm doers and wrongdoers to account, it needs to be a fair fight,” said Laura Conover, the Pima County Attorney in Arizona. “We need to make sure that we have all the resources available so that the law prevails.”
The group’s fundraising and communications are handled by Defiance.org. The not-for-profit social impact organization was founded by Miles Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security staffer during the first Trump administration, and Xander Schultz, a tech company founder and democracy activist, to “defy Trump’s abuses of power,” according to its website. Donations to FAFO are not tax-deductible.
Fatehi said he hopes federal officers hear about the group’s promise to go after agents who commit crimes, and avoid misconduct in the first place.
“Then when they are thinking about beating a protester, destroying evidence, shooting somebody who is unarmed … they will say, ‘Wait a minute, I’m in Tucson. Wait a minute, I am in Dallas. I am in San Antonio, I’m in Philadelphia, I’m in Norfolk, and I know that this DA is going to be watching me,’ and maybe, just maybe, that will save a life,” he said. “And if it doesn’t, then we’re here and we’re ready.”
