The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis are outrageous and heartbreaking and were preventable. President Donald Trump’s masked Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents constitute a militarized force that is engaged in widespread intimidation and racial profiling. Agents are not trained to de-escalate conflict, they are not connected to the local community and they have been given false promises of immunity.

As Lake County’s elected state’s attorney, I write to say there is hope. We can make our communities safe again by prosecuting federal agents for clear violations of state law. Trump’s automatic defense of ICE and the Border Patrol is part of a broader plan to desensitize us to violence and to convince us we are powerless to hold federal officials accountable. He has failed, and he is legally wrong. There is no absolute immunity for federal officials who clearly break state law, there is no statute of limitations on criminal homicides and no president can issue pardons for state crimes.

On policy issues, heroic governors and stalwart legislators have responded to Trump on an hourly basis. Gov. JB Pritzker has effectively challenged Trump’s sprint toward dictatorship, and his creation of the Illinois Accountability Commission demonstrates national leadership. State attorneys general, such as Kwame Raoul in Illinois, have defeated Trump in federal court on complicated issues regarding federalism and presidential powers. Mayors, city councils and police chiefs have bravely reaffirmed their commitment to the TRUST Act, which ensures that victims of all nationalities can safely report crimes without fear of ICE enforcement.

But when it comes to holding ICE agents immediately accountable, county prosecutors will be most effective due to their expertise with state statutes, strong connections to the community and effective collaboration with local police who also deeply care about safety.

American police officers are allowed to use “reasonable force” in exercising their duties or self-defense. The rule against excessive force dates back to Colonial times; recent instances of illegal force include the murders by police of Laquan McDonald in Chicago, Sonya Massey in the Springfield area and George Floyd in Minneapolis. This collective history is powerful in the American conscience and should be uniting us. Deadly use-of-force cases are tragic for families, devastating to communities, and legally complex for police and prosecutors.

Critically, we must not confuse the complexity inherent in all of these cases with Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s cynical claims about federal supremacy and “absolute immunity.” There is a well-established procedure for cases such as these. After state charges are filed, the U.S. government can ask a federal judge to make a preliminary determination about whether the officer was “reasonable” in his official duties. If so, the state case is dismissed under the theory that state officials shouldn’t interfere with proper federal activities. This proceeding in federal court is an additional step mandated by the Constitution, but it is not a bar to state prosecutions.

In fact, since the 1800s, the U.S. Supreme Court has permitted local prosecutors to bring state charges against federal officials. In Idaho, state prosecutors brought claims against an FBI sniper in the 1992 Ruby Ridge tragedy. In 2020 in Virginia, local prosecutors filed charges against federal officers who shot a fleeing motorist in 2017.

The Trump administration is simply deceiving its own ICE agents when it makes them seem legally invincible. This deception is dangerous because it undermines agents’ sense of accountability.

Unlike the risky incursions by ICE and the Border Patrol, targeted and professional investigations by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration save lives. Our office saw this firsthand in the Highland Park mass shooting case and in recent successful efforts to curb human trafficking.

The agents we see in Minneapolis stand in stark contrast to the outstanding local police and federal agents whom our office has had the honor to work with.

To be clear, in Lake County, federal agents who break state laws will be investigated through the same procedures we have traditionally used, prosecuted with due process and held accountable in our local court system. It is safer for the community and fairer to the inbound ICE and Border Patrol agents if they know this legal truth.

The rule of law is not a cliche — it is how democracy enforces its decisions. The people in Illinois and in every state have democratically decided that armed government agents shall not use excessive force.

It is time for elected prosecutors throughout America to publicly proclaim to the federal government: No one is above the law.

Eric Rinehart is the Lake County state’s attorney. 

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