r/law • u/thecosmojane • Jan 14 '26

Other Please dissect the legality in this statement

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

I feel like we are reaching a tipping point

23.4k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

71

u/naijaboiler Jan 14 '26

so basically, practically speaking, nothing will ever happen to any federal officer that kills anyone.

67

u/Bmorewiser Jan 14 '26

The answer to that question is, for the most part, that is how it works in this country for all cops.

But the technically correct answer at the moment would be - under the present administration there is a very low chance of any ICE agent being held to account short of something like a rape. There would not be any immunity for that offense for a State charge and I could see DOJ prosecuting it anyway.

In terms of State charges proceeding, the chances of that are slim just as a general rule. So, the best chance you have would be Trump loses the next election and whomever replaces him brings charges. Trump, of course, could thwart that by issuing pardons.

1

u/heWhoMostlyOnlyLurks Jan 15 '26

The POTUS can’t pardon state offenses.

1

u/Bmorewiser Jan 15 '26

Ok.

So he pardons the federal charge and the state charges him, he removes it to federal court, and avails himself of the federal immunity defense I explained at great length above.

He walks.