The Walls Are Closing In on Woke DAs  

November 3, 2022

By Brian Lonergan

Throughout America’s run as the freest country in history, we have implemented a broad range of ideas on governance, with varying results. Having a Bill of Rights in our constitution, for example, was a very good idea. Allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections, not so much.

Among the notions firmly in the “bad idea” box has been the recent trend of advancing radical, “progressive” district attorneys in a slew of metropolitan areas. These DAs have unleashed a torrent of violent crime, illegal aliens, and general lawlessness that has made these once-sparkling cities unlivable. With residents of these cities pushed to the breaking point, many are pushing back and it may signal the end of this horribly destructive experiment.  

Installing extremist prosecutors into large U.S. cities has been the pet project of George Soros, the Hungarian-born leftist billionaire who appears fixated on dismantling capitalism in America. By funneling donations through a network of political action committees and nonprofits, Soros has been successful the last few years in getting DAs elected who push through initiatives like eliminating cash bail, “reimagining” the role of police, and assisting criminal aliens to avoid deportation.

Thanks in large part to fawning coverage from the corporate media and support from leftist politicians in Washington, these radical prosecutors were allowed to put their policies into place. Today, the consequences of those policies can no longer be hidden or explained away. After crime spiked to absurd levels in San Francisco, the residents of that proudly progressive city voted in June to remove their rogue DA Chesa Boudin.  

On the watch of the Soros-backed Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, the city set an all-time record for homicides in 2021. After Krasner’s now-defunct “Conviction Integrity Unit” helped free Jamir Harris from prison for a 2013 murder, Harris is now wanted for the murder of a 50 year-old Philadelphia man in September.

In 2021, an investigation by the Immigration Reform Law Institute revealed the extent to which Krasner is turning Philadelphia into a magnet for criminal aliens. Shortly after assuming office in 2017, he appointed immigration attorney Caleb Arnold to consult on criminal cases involving noncitizens.

IRLI’s investigation showed that Arnold “has consulted with noncitizen defendants who have been charged with rape, murder, rape of a child, forcible rape, sexual assault, unlawful contact of a minor, attempted murder, among other crimes.” Federal law mandates deportation of aliens who are convicted of certain crimes whether or not they are in the country legally. Thus, Arnold’s consulting resulted in noncitizen criminal defendants escaping ICE custody and from being deported. 

Now facing a recall effort by state legislators, Krasner is resorting to the last refuge of a leftist political scoundrel: absolving himself of the collapse of law and order in the city by accusing his critics of racism.

Those demanding his recall, an indignant Krasner said in a press conference in Harrisburg on October 21, seek to “point a finger at large, diverse cities, and say large, diverse cities are lawless.”

It was one of the most shameless attempts in recent memory by a politician to weasel out of responsibility for his actions. Philadelphia has indeed become lawless, but not because it is large and diverse. It is lawless because Krasner’s radical agenda has incentivized criminals, squashed police morale and made the city an attractive safe harbor for criminal aliens. He deserves the same fate as Boudin in San Francisco.

Other Soros-funded DAs are taking fire for their excesses. George Gascon narrowly avoided a recent attempt to have him removed in Los Angeles. In Chicago, where the city’s rampant violent crime has become an ongoing national story, Cook County State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx has presided over an office in ruins. According to the Chicago Tribune, 235 staffers in Foxx’s office have resigned in the last two years.

One refugee, former Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Jim Murphy, publicly stated that Foxx’s office was “more concerned about political narratives and agendas than with victims and prosecuting violent crime. I wish I could stay. However, I can no longer work for this administration. I have zero confidence in leadership.”

Sensing the anger of the masses, the media is now trying to gaslight the public and run interference for their fellow traveler prosecutors. The Los Angeles Times laughably argued that “attempts to connect sensible prosecutorial policies to crime increases are ridiculous.” Yes, the timing of record crime spikes with the arrival of rogue district attorneys into office must be pure coincidence.

Once dogmatic leftists like Krasner, Foxx and Gascon have exhausted their time on the public stage, voters may see that a return to law and order is the only hope for cities to rebound. Maybe then nonsensical ideas like no cash bail, defunding the police and shielding criminal aliens from deportation can be dumped into the ashbin of history where they belong.

Brian Lonergan is director of communications at the Immigration Reform Law Institute, a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of mass migration.

Also published at American Greatness, November 3, 2022, and The Florida Capital Star, November 7, 2022.