The first LGBTQ+ person and woman of color to serve as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced on Feb. 17 that she has resigned from her post. Jacqueline C. Romero led one of the nation’s largest districts, serving nearly six million residents across nine counties, and managed one of the busiest U.S. Attorney’s Offices, overseeing a staff of more than 300 in Philadelphia and Allentown. In a statement, Romero celebrated her accomplishments in the role, calling it “the absolute honor of my life to hold this title of U.S. Attorney.”
“The work we’ve done these last years — scores of violent offenders and child predators taken off the street, fraudsters who preyed on investors and the elderly locked up, drug dealers and dirty doctors who poisoned our communities brought to justice, civil rights violations brought to light, and much more — all of it has made the Eastern District of Pennsylvania safer, stronger, and more just,” Romero said in a statement.
“I’m extraordinarily proud, too, of our outreach efforts,” she added. “My team and I have gone out and met the people of this District where they are. It’s helped build trust in the community and that isn’t just something, it’s everything. I know that all of my colleagues here, no matter their role, will carry on this Office’s important work, on behalf of the people of southeastern Pennsylvania.”
Nelson S.T. Thayer, Jr., the District’s First Assistant United States Attorney, is serving as Acting U.S. Attorney upon Romero’s departure. During the selection process for the next U.S. attorney, candidates will submit applications to Pennsylvania U.S. Sens. Dave McCormick and John Fetterman, a Republican and a Democrat, respectively. The senators will then recommend a candidate to President Donald Trump, who will make the appointment.
Under Romero’s leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania focused on prosecuting violent crime, fraud, and civil rights violations while also advancing anti-crime initiatives through community engagement, youth outreach and reentry programs.
She also led the expansion of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s Allentown office to better serve residents of Lancaster, Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties. This included hiring three assistant district attorneys from Lehigh, Berks and Northampton counties. The expansion also increased the office’s physical footprint and upgraded its facilities to support a growing investigative workload in collaboration with law enforcement partners from the Lehigh Valley to Lancaster.
Romero was sworn in as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on June 21, 2022 after being nominated by then-President Joe Biden and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. During a 2023 interview with PGN, Romero spoke about coincidentally getting confirmed during Pride Month.
“I haven’t really thought about it in terms of it’s Pride Month, and I’m getting confirmed until you really just asked that question,” she said. “So, in some ways, that’s pretty tremendous, because this office has been in existence for over 230 years. And the President of the United States in the entire time has never appointed an openly gay individual. So I think it’s significant and impactful for the community.”
During that interview with PGN, Romero spoke about the importance of visibility.
“I’m a firm believer in the phrase ‘visibility saves lives,’” she said. “For young folk who are coming out and looking for role models — people who look and sound like them and who come from backgrounds that they come from — it is so important for me to be in this kind of position, working with the top law enforcement in the area, serving in this role, serving in the community. It is so important for me to be here, to be an out lesbian and just living my life and being a leader in the city, because visibility does save lives.”
She also gave advice to LGBTQ+ people in her field.
“One of the big things, pieces of advice that I always give our queer folk who come and talk to me and ask for advice is that you should be your authentic self,” Romero said. “Don’t try to be something that you’re not because you’re afraid of what people might think. Giving away your power in that way is probably one of the worst things that you can do. Be your authentic self 100% of the time.”
Take a look back at PGN’s 2023 video interview with Jacqueline C. Romero below.