Philadelphia's top law enforcement officials have drawn a red line with the Trump administration after an ICE agent killed an activist protester this week during in Minneapolis.
In a Thursday press conference, Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner slammed President Donald Trump as the 'criminal-in-chief,' and vowed to prosecute any federal officers who commit crimes in the city.
Krasner said that widely circulated footage of the Minneapolis shooting of Renee Nicole Good showed that the ICE officer's actions were unlawful and violated law enforcement protocols.
"Silence will not protect us from people who trade in violence to achieve their fascist goals. Our voices will," Krasner said. "The law must apply to everyone, and therefore we have to use our voices to call out people who commit terrible crimes or justify them. We have to use our voices to remind people that it’s not just a question of what you can get away with. It’s a question of right and wrong."
Krasner dismissed the idea that the ICE officer fired his weapon in self-defense, saying "Blocking streets is something protesters, suffragettes have done forever. It’s an incredibly minor offense.
"There is no justification whatsoever in the law for shooting to death someone who is leaving having blocked the street, if that’s even what she did. No justification whatsoever under the Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court, president or the law for doing that."
Sheriff Rochelle Bilal echoed Krasner's comments, calling ICE agents "fake law enforcement," and saying she is "with the DA" when it comes to prosecuting federal agents that commit crimes in the city.
"...law enforcement professionals - real ones, not the fake, made-up ICE, probably Trump's new army to attack citizens in the United States. Did you hear what I said? No law enforcement professional wears a mask. None. None."
"Those that come into our communities wearing masks to commit crime - and thank God for our District Attorney Larry Krasner, who says he's gonna lock them up. And I'm saying now, we are not going to whisk you away for them to hide your identity. Because when you do it here, you're getting arrested."
"You don't want this smoke," she concluded.
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