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(CN) — Nine prominent city and county prosecutors across the United States announced on Wednesday the formation of a national coalition dedicated to holding federal agents who commit state crimes accountable for their actions.
The Fight Against Federal Overreach — its abbreviation a reference to the phrase “fuck around and find out” — aims to create a collaborative network for city and county prosecutors to confront federal overreach in their respective districts, according to the coalition’s website. Additionally, the platform will serve as a means of raising funds for future litigation.
In a news conference Wednesday, Fairfax County, Virginia, top prosecutor and FAFO member Steve Descano described the U.S. as being in “bad times” due to what he described as the Trump administration’s lackadaisical efforts to ensure that deployed immigration officers do not violate the law.
“The chaos you’re seeing on the streets — the beatings, the abductions, the killings of everyday Americans just like you and me — these are the natural consequences of a federal government that thinks they’re above the law and the rest of us are below it,” Descano said. “If you’re not on their team, you have no rights and your life does not matter.”
“Unfortunately for those guys, we’re in the ‘find out’ business around here,” he added, referencing the coalition’s acronym.
The Fight Against Federal Overreach’s formation comes in the wake of two prominent killings of U.S. citizens at the hands of federal officers during the ongoing mass deportation operation in Minnesota.
Renee Good, 37, was shot and killed in her car in Minneapolis on Jan. 7 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross. Good appeared to attempt to drive away from the officer during a confrontation. The agency denies this, asserting that Good attempted to run Ross over despite Good’s car being turned away from Ross as he fired three shots. The FBI has declined to investigate her killing.
Then, on Saturday — approximately two weeks after Good’s killing — Alex Pretty, 37, was shot and killed by Customs and Border Protection officers in Minneapolis after standing between an agent and a woman whom the agent pushed to the ground. Video of the shooting appears to show border patrol agents removing Pretti’s holstered handgun, which he legally owned and had a license for, before shooting and killing him.
Reports from federal officials have repeatedly contradicted video evidence: Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem accused Pretti of brandishing his firearm, while White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called Pretti a “domestic terrorist” who “tried to assassinate federal law enforcement.”
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security has denied local police access to the scene despite local officers possessing a signed judge’s warrant.
In between the two shootings, Vice President JD Vance claimed on Jan. 8 that federal law enforcement officials engaging in federal law enforcement action are protected by “absolute immunity” — a claim that Philadelphia District Attorney and FAFO member Larry Krasner called “completely false” during the coalition’s news conference Wednesday.
“That is absolute nonsense,” Krasner said. “There is no such thing. 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. 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 that the circumstances didn’t require any of that.”
While Norfolk, Virginia, top prosecutor and FAFO member Ramin Fatehi told the press that coalition members are prepared to prosecute any federal agent who violates state law, he added that the coalition’s existence itself might give agents second thoughts about breaking the law within members’ jurisdictions.
“I’d like to think that … 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’m in Dallas, I’m in [Austin], I’m in Philadelphia, I’m in Norfolk — and I know that this DA is going to be watching me,’” Fatehi said. “And maybe, just maybe, that will save a life. And if it doesn’t, then we’re here and we’re ready.”
Additional members of the coalition include Hennepin County, Minnesota, top prosecutor Mary Moriarty, whose jurisdiction includes Minneapolis, along with district attorneys from across Texas, Virginia and Arizona.
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