As election officials across the country brace for the possibility of federal agents descending on polling sites in November, a nationwide coalition of Democratic district attorneys has vowed to prosecute any federal agent suspected of intimidating voters.
The announcement, first reported by Politico, comes shortly after President Donald Trump refused to rule out sending U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to election sites during the midterms. “I’d do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections,” Trump told reporters earlier this month.
The coalition includes prosecutors from Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Dallas and Northern Virginia, among other jurisdictions.
“We’re ready to go,” Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told MS NOW’s Chris Jansing on Thursday. “In the same way that my office and the offices of these other members of this group have successfully prosecuted civilians and also prosecuted law enforcement, we will prosecute federal agents who try to interfere with elections.”
“It’s a crime in almost every jurisdiction to engage in election interference under state law,” he added, “and they better get ready for the handcuffs and the jail cell.”
Federal law prohibits voter intimidation and interference at polling sites. Many states also have statutes that criminalize voter intimidation.
The group is part of a nationwide coalition of local prosecutors called the Project for the Fight Against Federal Overreach, formed earlier this year to combat Trump’s executive actions.
“The right to vote without fear of armed government agents at the polls is not negotiable, and it is not subject to the whims of a president,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, another member of the coalition, said in a statement.
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Last week, Moriarty charged an ICE agent with assault and filing a false report after the officer shot a Venezuelan immigrant during the height of the administration’s Operation Metro Surge.
In Virginia, newly elected Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger is also taking action. On Wednesday, she issued an executive order aimed at helping election workers respond if federal agents turn up at polling sites in her state.
Last month, after voters in Virginia approved a Democratic-backed redistricting referendum, Trump claimed, without evidence, that the election had been “rigged.”
“A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA! All day long Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive ‘Mail In Ballot Drop!’” the president wrote, adding that “Democrats eked out another crooked victory!”
Krasner called the upcoming midterms “crucial” for the future of America’s democracy and said he feared the president would use federal agents “to try some kind of coup.”
“What he’s actually talking about is an army to steal the election,” he told MS NOW. “We are not having it. This group is not having it. Our allies and friends are not having it, and most importantly, millions of Americans are not having it.”
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”