Criminal defense attorney Shannon Locke defended his plans to prosecute Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during the first Bexar County District Attorney debate at Our Lady of the Lake on Saturday after criticism by his opponents.
During the debate, Locke justified his position by pointing to an October ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Xavier Rodriguez, in which he dismissed a case brought by the federal government against a Honduran immigrant due to “outrageous” government conduct.
“If a crime occurs by an ICE agent, and it’s an intentional act and they don’t have the authority to do that, then we can prosecute them and indict them,” Locke said. “The government will then move it to federal court, and we will appear in front of a federal judiciary.”
Locke’s comments during the forum hosted by the Bexar County Democrats came amid controversy over whether the District Attorney’s office actually has the power to investigate federal agencies.
Locke has said on numerous occasions over the past week that he will prosecute ICE agents, Gov. Greg Abbott, and even President Donald Trump if similar immigration operations as those seen in Minneapolis were implemented in San Antonio.
“We have to investigate the ICE raids,” Locke said during a forum hosted by the Northwest Democrats on Saturday morning. “I’m the only candidate calling for investigations into ICE raids. There have been crimes committed by federal agents that have to be investigated. That’s not happening now. But it needs to.”
Independent candidate Jason Wolff, also a criminal defense attorney, criticized Locke for his ICE remarks on TikTok last week.
“You know damn well that you don’t have the general jurisdiction — nor do our courts have general jurisdiction — over federal employees acting in their official capacity,” Wolff said in the clip. “All you’re doing is grandstanding for voters to get yourself ahead of the game.”
Prosecutor Oscar Salinas, a candidate running for District Attorney as a Democrat, also accused Locke during this weekend’s debate of using ICE to pander to voters. Meanwhile, Jane Davis, who currently serves as the chief of the juvenile section at the Bexar County District Attorney’s office, accused Locke of lying to voters.
“I don’t want you to be misled, I don’t want you to be fooled, and I think it’s important to not waste resources on things that can’t be done the way you want to do it,” Davis said of Locke’s plans. “We need to encourage the police officers to protect protesters. We need to work together to do what we can within the law.”
However, Locke fired back at Davis, insinuating that she was misinformed.
“Jane, you’re wrong. You’re just plain wrong,” Locke quipped. “You don’t practice federal law, Jane. You just don’t.”
Candidate Veronica Legaretta, of the Legaretta Law Firm, then fought back against Locke’s notion that he was the only candidate with any experience in federal court.
“I just want to say, I practice in Federal Court, Shannon,” Legaretta quipped before going into her history of helping immigrants at her practice.
“What Bexar County needs is someone who is going to be firm on crime, but fair to everyone,” Lagaretta said. “What we need is someone who knows how to be a prosecutor, someone who’s seen the wrong [done] by a defense attorney, someone who’s been a magistrate judge and sees how, at the very beginning, it can change.”
Another debate between the Democratic candidates for Bexar County DA is set for 6 p.m. on Feb. 3 at the Carver Community Cultural Center.
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