Last week, the founding members of the Fight Against Federal Overreach, a coalition of pro-democracy elected prosecutors, met in Washington, D.C. to strengthen our ability to defend our communities against federal abuse of power. In addition to meeting with experts in litigation, investigation, and technology, they made some commitments.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 12, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Last week, the founding members of the Fight Against Federal Overreach, a coalition of pro-democracy elected prosecutors, met in Washington, D.C. to strengthen our ability to defend our communities against federal abuse of power.
In addition to meeting with experts in litigation, investigation, and technology, we made some commitments.
First and foremost, as we said at our launch, we will work to hold accountable federal officials who commit state and local crimes, causing harm in our communities. We will combine resources to advance litigation, use experts who can support these efforts, and increase our pool of investigative resources. We are committed to working together to protect justice and accountability – to ensure no one is above the law. Accountability is especially critical at the local level, where the President lacks pardon power.
Second, we will set up a process for evidence collection to document harms caused in our communities, including ways for everyday individuals to tell us what they have witnessed. Each one will look different, but it is time to start ensuring we are ready before another tragedy occurs.
Third, given the President's threats of nationalizing elections and using immigration enforcement at the polls, we will start convening partners to protect the safety and integrity of our elections. There is perhaps no more urgent task if we are to preserve our democracy. We are committed to supporting the right to vote and the safety and integrity of elections. We will collaborate to ensure safe and fair elections. We will prosecute anyone trying to disrupt elections, intimidate voters, or commit fraud.
As the chief prosecutors of our cities and counties, we also need to weigh in as Congress negotiates a deal over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spending.
While the demands laid out by Democratic leadership are essential to public safety, more must be done if we are serious about ensuring our communities are protected. We want to elaborate on a few of the demands we have seen:
- No Masks: It is not enough that ICE and Customs and Border Patrol stop wearing masks. Federal officers must be easily identifiable by name and unique number or other identifier, just as police officers are in their communities. Failing to require this thwarts accountability.
- Protect Sensitive Locations: ICE has no business being at hospitals, schools, churches, courthouses, and especially polling places. But the current language doesn't go far enough. Congress must prohibit any enforcement activity within 1,000 feet of any of these locations, and it must add ballot drop boxes to that list. Congress must also prohibit any enforcement actions during early voting, on Election Day, and at locations where counts and recounts are occurring, until all counting is completed.
- Stop Racial Profiling: Ending Kavanaugh stops is essential. Congress must implement a real remedy for those harmed by these stops. Given the long and recent history of violating constitutional and civil rights, if federal officers continue to engage in racial and ethnic profiling, Congress will revoke funding, including the already allocated funding.
- Uphold Use-of-Force Standards: Guidelines here are woefully unspecific. We must prohibit the use of less-lethal weapons, including tear gas, bean bags, and rubber pellets, against non-violent protestors, and always when children are involved. Congress must ensure that unjustified use of force will result in a revocation of DHS funding.
- Ensure State and Local Coordination and Oversight: We must require DOJ and FBI cooperation with local law enforcement and prosecutors' offices. Preserving their ability to conduct investigations is too vague. We must insist that localities have access to crime scenes, witness statements, and other critical evidence.
- Build Safeguards into the System: Detained persons must be provided with more than attorney visits. Every detained person must have access to healthcare and to family visits. The detention facilities must comply with basic standards and when the facilities fail to do so, they must be required to release people.
- Require Judicial Warrants for Arrest and Home Entry: Compliance with the Constitution is not "bureaucracy." ICE cannot oversee itself; independent, Article III judges are critical to reigning in home invasions.
And other demands must be added:
- Eliminate Arrest Quotas: Congress must demand the end of arrest quotas.
- Eliminate Surges: Congress must demand an end to surges.
- Cease the Surveillance State: Congress must end the use of AI surveillance, including facial recognition technology and social media monitoring.
- Close the Civil Rights Loophole: For decades, advocates have had the right under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 to sue state officials for depriving people of their civil rights under color of law, but Congress has never allowed such suits against federal officials. Now is the time to close this loophole and allow people to call on the federal courts to protect them against federal overreach.
- Change Leadership: Current DHS leadership must be removed and replaced. The abuses of this agency will not be fixed with the people in this Administration at the helm. Current leadership will not reign in this agency – these leaders will simply ignore Congress, the federal courts, and the Constitution.
We are elected leaders committed to safeguarding our communities' safety, rights, and democracy. We hope other like-minded and committed elected leaders will join us as we continue to prepare and protect. There is no more important work.
The Project for the Fight Against Federal Overreach is a national coalition of independent district attorneys collaborating to ensure accountability when federal officials exceed their lawful authority. For more information about the Fight Against Federal Overreach, please visit www.federaloverreach.org
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]
Media Contact
Scott Goodstein, Fight Against Federal Overreach, 1 202-256-8320, [email protected], https://FederalOverreach.org
SOURCE Fight Against Federal Overreach
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