Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Delivers Remarks at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho

Remarks as Delivered

Thanks Josh. Thanks for the very overly generous introduction. I appreciate it.

I am very glad to be back in Idaho. I am particularly glad to be here with the Solicitor General of the United States, Idaho’s own, Elizabeth Prelogar. I have known Elizabeth for a very long time, since I was a judge and she was my law clerk. I’m very fortunate in that respect, and now the United States is very fortunate to have her representing the American people in the Supreme Court analyzing the most difficult issues before the country. She is one of the most exceptional legal minds in this country, and I think all of us should be grateful to have her representing us.

In just a few minutes, I’m going to have a chance to talk to the law enforcement partners gathered around this table. This group represents the law enforcement agencies whose members, every single day, risk their lives to protect the people of this state. And equally important, they represent the collaborative partnership that is at the heart of the Justice Department’s own strategy for dealing with violent crime.

When I became Attorney General three and a half years ago, I knew that the most powerful tool we would have in fighting violent crime all across the country was our partnerships with state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies. That was my experience when I was a young prosecutor in the early 1990s fighting violent crime and drug trafficking. That was my experience later in the 90s when I was a supervisor and manager strategizing about the best methods and fighting violent crime across the country during a particularly difficult period with respect to violent crime in the 1990s.

So, when I came in, we built an anti-violent crime strategy based on collaboration, strengthening collaboration between all the federal law enforcement agencies and our relationships with the state and local law enforcement agencies.

And then we fortified those partnerships by bringing to bear the new technological tools that allow us to identify and focus on those actors most responsible for committing violent crimes and taking them off of our streets.

We are now beginning to see some of the results. According to a recent report released by the Idaho State Police, murders in this state declined by 15% in 2023 compared to 2022.

And that is consistent with what we have seen nationally, where last year we saw one of the lowest violent crime rates in 50 years and the largest decline in homicides in 50 years.

But I know that progress is not even, and in many communities, it’s still not been reached. And in any event, there is no acceptable level of violent crime.

The Justice Department is working in Idaho and across the country to arrest violent felons, to seize and trace guns used in violent crime, to disrupt violent drug trafficking, and to prosecute the individuals and the gangs most responsible for the highest degree of violence.

That includes confronting the fentanyl epidemic. In my view, it’s the deadliest threat from a drug that we have ever faced in this country.

In July, this U.S. Attorney’s Office secured a 10-year sentence for the fifth defendant involved in a drug trafficking conspiracy to distribute over 7,000 fentanyl pills in the Magic Valley.

In June, this office secured a 7-year sentence for a defendant who sold lethal fentanyl pills to his coworker. The victim ingested the drugs and died as a result.

And earlier this spring, this office — together with the FBI, the Idaho State Police, and other partners — investigated and successfully prosecuted two traffickers responsible for distributing methamphetamine and fentanyl in East Idaho.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office also participates in the Justice Department’s Project Safe Neighborhoods program, which brings together all levels of law enforcement to reduce violent crime and gun violence.

Earlier this Spring, as part of that program, this office secured an 87-month sentence for a convicted domestic abuser who unlawfully possessed five firearms, including an untraceable ghost gun.

In a separate case — conducted in partnership with the ATF, the U.S. Postal Service, and Postal Inspection Service, and the Twin Falls Police Department — this office secured a 7-year sentence against a man who unlawfully trafficked in firearms.

Among the weapons seized was a loaded Glock pistol installed with an illegal machine gun conversion device, which we call a Glock switch. A Glock pistol with a switch is capable of firing more than 1,000 rounds per minute, making it highly lethal not only to civilian victims but to law enforcement.

And earlier this year, this office worked with the Justice Department’s National Security Division, the FBI, and a number of local law enforcement agencies to arrest a man on charges of providing material support to the terrorist organization ISIS.

The individual is alleged to have sworn an oath of loyalty ... to ISIS and planned to wage a heinous attack in its name on churches in Coeur d’Alene.

Thanks to the collective work of law enforcement, that attack was thwarted. And this office will see to it that that defendant is held accountable.

These examples are just a snapshot of the work that this office is doing every single day on behalf of the people of Idaho to fulfill the Justice Department’s mission to keep our communities safe, to protect civil rights, and to uphold the rule of law.

I am very proud of U.S. Attorney Hurwit and of all the men and women of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.

And I am equally proud of the partnerships that they have nurtured with the law enforcement agencies represented around this table, who work every single day to keep the people of Idaho safe.

With that, we will begin our meeting.