A conversation with former U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero

The first Latina and LGBTQ+ U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of PA talked Pride Month, the World Cup, and what life has been like after holding office.

Interview By Gabriela Watson-Burkett. Edited by Nigel Thompson and Jensen Toussaint. On June 28, 2026.

Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Romero.

Inti Media prides itself on being able to highlight all kinds of voices and experiences from across the broad spectrum of Philadelphia’s Latine communities. It’s why we jumped at the opportunity to interview former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jacqueline Romero.

Appointed to lead the office by President Joe Biden in 2022, Romero became the first Latina and LGBTQ+ U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in history. In the role, her office oversaw a 40% drop in violent crime for the region. It also prosecuted numerous high-profile cases combating housing inequality, cryptocurrency fraud, Russian misinformation about the War in Ukraine, and corruption, among other crimes. 

She first joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2006.

After her time leading the office, Romero joined the law firm BakerHostetler in Philadelphia, where she is a partner and member of its white collar, investigations, and securities enforcement and litigation team.

Romero is a native of Tenafly in North New Jersey, and is the granddaughter of Spanish immigrants to the U.S. She is the youngest of five children.

Below is an edited transcript of an interview with Romero conducted by Inti Media Founder, Executive Director, and Editor-In-Chief Gabriela Watson Burkett. 

Some questions and answers are edited for clarity.

Gabriela: Ms. Romero, thank you for your time today. My first question is tied to this month. We are still in Pride Month. How do you celebrate?

Romero: That's a good question. You know, it's changed for me over the years. I think when I was in my 20s and 30s, and in that kind of party space, so to speak, I was very big on the parades and going to the clubs with friends and being out and loud and proud and all of that. 

I still feel as though I'm out loud and proud in different ways, but I'm more in the space of getting together with family and friends, and also when there are community gatherings that are important to me — groups that are having an event and talking about important issues — I tend to go to more of those kinds of events. 

But there's a big, big Pride flag outside my house, and I celebrate in my own ways now with family and friends. It's just important to me to be out and visible. I like to often say that visibility saves lives. You never know who you're going to impact just by simply being yourself and being out and being in the space in that way. 

It's important to a lot of people, and I know that because people come up to me all the time and tell me that they really appreciate that I've been out all these years, and that I'm open, and I talk about my life because for them it's an inspiration.

Gabriela: I love what you said. That sometimes, just being yourself, you open a space for so many people to be themselves and accept themselves and love themselves, so that's awesome. Does celebrating Pride take on any more significant meaning for you in the times that we live?

Romero: I think for me, Pride is important in all times. If you are a kid who's living in the middle of a state like Nebraska or even Ohio, which is not so far away from here, having a Pride event — whether it's a parade or something simpler — can be life-changing and life-affirming in ways that we can't even honestly compute. 

So yes, it's important in these times, but I feel as though Pride is important in all times because we're fortunate to live in a pretty progressive state that is pretty embracing. But there are people across the nation who don't have that benefit, and so Pride is for them life-affirming, and I think it's important in all times.

Gabriela: Yes, that makes sense. Now, going back to your career, you left the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2025. How has life been since leaving that position? And tell me more about your role at BakerHostetler.

Romero: It's wonderful. It's very different than being in government. In government, your mission is public safety, it's protecting the public fisc, and really being a public servant.

Being on the other side of things, you have private clients that you're representing, and trying in a different way to find justice for them. I do a lot of government investigation work, and defending of clients who are in the middle of government investigations. 

It's exciting for me. It's really wonderful to be on this side of things, and helping people to defend themselves, and to find justice by holding the government to its promises of due process, fairness, equity, and all those kinds of things. And giving people the proper defense that they deserve. So I'm enjoying it.

Gabriela: What is your biggest takeaway from being a U.S. Attorney?

Romero: That's a good question. The biggest takeaway I think is that you're the U.S. Attorney for everyone, and that's often people who don't look like you, don't come from neighborhoods that you came from, who may have different political views than you, who are of a different socio-economic status than you. All of it.

Your job as the U.S. Attorney is to enforce the laws for everyone. Everyone deserves a safe neighborhood. Everyone deserves to have decent schooling for their kids. Everyone deserves justice, and that, for me, was the biggest takeaway. You are the people's U.S. Attorney. You're not just the U.S. Attorney for some.

Gabriela:I love that. What were some of the biggest challenges while trying to be the U.S. Attorney for everyone?

Romero: Well, you are also the convener of everyone, so you bring together community groups, you bring together the local DAs who are enforcing the laws on the state level, you bring together government agencies like the FBI, DEA, Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). You are the person people are looking to for leadership, and that is the biggest challenge. 

You're the top federal law enforcement official, and people from all walks of life — whether it's the citizens, the DA, agency heads, Washington, the Department of Justice, the Attorney General — you have to bring everyone's interests together and find commonalities, ways you can share resources, and do this job of law enforcement in an efficient, and effective way, and make sure that everyone's voice is being heard.

Not everybody agrees, right? So that's why I say you're the big convener, you've got to find those commonalities, so that we can push forward a law enforcement agenda that works for the community, that works for government, that works for all the agencies, the president, the attorney general — everyone.

That, for me, was probably the biggest difficulty and the biggest challenge. But also, the most exciting part of the job was hearing everyone’s voices and finding those commonalities, and finding a way to bring effective, safe law enforcement for communities in a way that worked for everyone.

Gabriela: Awesome. What would you say is one or some of the accomplishments that you are really proud of during that time?

Romero: I think, you know, when I came into the office, we were at probably one of the all-time highs for violent crimes in Philadelphia. We had to quickly mobilize so many different groups to bring resources to the problem to quickly identify the biggest drivers of violence in the communities, and address those issues. And again, as I said, bring all of the folks to bear who have a say in that problem — whether it's the local DAs, the Commissioner of Police, my law enforcement partners, all of the various agencies, ATF, FBI, DEA — and figure out: How do we bring all our resources together and identify the drivers of this problem of violent crime? 

For instance, we quickly stood up a carjacking task force, bringing the resources of the FBI, ATF, even DEA, and Homeland Security were in on it. We quickly brought those numbers down, I mean, it was incredible. We identified in the various neighborhoods the people who are really driving the crime — the organized crime, the cartels, the people who just need to be off the streets. They're the cause of a lot of the problems in these neighborhoods, and we quickly started bringing cases, indicting folks, and getting them off the streets. 

By the time I left as U.S. Attorney, there had been a 40% drop in violent crime. That's unheard of. I don't take credit for that. I did my fair share, but it was all of these groups coming together and addressing the problem in a really effective way, and communicating and working together really well. For me, that was a huge accomplishment. 

I also think that we did a lot of community engagement work, civil rights enforcement, hate crimes enforcement, and the community really appreciated our presence in that space. I'm proud of the work that we did there as well, but there's lots of stuff I could highlight. It was really for me the honor of a lifetime to get to serve in that role and to address the community's needs in the way that we did.

Gabriela: Yes, I can just imagine. Is that a job that you would take again?

Romero: You know, it's not unheard of. It has happened where a U.S. Attorney under a subsequent administration has been asked to step back in. 

I would think long and hard about it, and honestly, I'm not opposed to doing it again. It's a conversation I would have to have with the President and their people at that time, but I'm not. 

Gabriela: I understand. And your grandparents, they were Spanish immigrants, right? How do you see their stories and experiences in the stories and experiences of immigrants coming to this country and making a life here today?

Romero: Immigration has always been a difficult process throughout history, and I think it was no different for my grandparents than it is today. 

It was a long process for them to get their citizenship. It was a lot of applications and red tape, and not understanding the process, and having to go for hearings, and all of the things that people face today. The borders might have been a little bit more open back then, as probably the only difference. I think that the country has closed off the borders in some ways, but their experience, I think, is very similar to what people go through today. 

Citizenship is a privilege, and it's something that you have to work toward. It's something that you have to be patient and wait for, and that's what my grandparents did. Like many immigrants, they set their roots, they built a business, they paid taxes, they showed that they wanted to be here, and that they deserve to be here, and they eventually got their citizenship.

Gabriela: And how does it make you feel seeing immigrant communities under attack by the current administration?

Romero: I don't want to comment about the current administration. If that's okay, I really don't want to be pointing fingers at this time, and getting into that, and then talking about that issue. I apologize, but I would rather not comment on that.

Gabriela: No. No apologies needed. Thank you so much. Totally understood. 

You have a title as the first Latina U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. I found it so fascinating because sometimes the Spanish are not mixed with other Latino immigrants, right? And so, how do you see that congregation between Spain and other Latinos from Latin America, while honoring that title?

Romero: You know, it's wonderful how diverse the Latino community is. 

I mean, we are all so very different — different countries with different cultures, different foods, everything. I love that we have all been embraced under this sort of rubric of Latino, but we're not a monolith. We're so very different even within the communities. 

I am a gay Latina, and so my cultural background of being gay and Latina is very different. It makes me excited to see all the different cultures, and I think having the World Cup here in Philadelphia right now is just a great demonstration of so many of those cultures. How different we all are in the way that we look and the way that we speak. 

Spanish is very different among various countries. The words are different. Where my family is from in Spain, they speak very differently than the rest of Spain. They're gallegos (from Galicia), and it's a whole different dialect. So it's fun for me to see the diversity that is the Hispanic or Latino community.

Gabriela: What is something that you love about being a Latino or being of Spanish descent?

Romero: I love the music, the culture, and the food more than anything — all the various music cultures and foods of the different countries. I have friends from Puerto Rico, and their music and food are so different than friends from El Salvador and Paraguay. All the different places, I just love the celebration that is the Latino community — the music, the food, and the things that we hold near and dear to our hearts. For me, that's the most fun.

Gabriela: Are you enjoying the World Cup? Is that something you’re following?

Romero: Yeah, absolutely! Are you kidding me? España, come on! I'm watching all the games, and I'm looking forward to them winning the World Cup. I also have to give a shoutout to Lamine Yamal, my favorite player of all time.

Gabriela: Why is he your favorite player?

Romero: Because he's so young, vibrant, and just full of life. When he comes on the field, he brings that Spanish team alive. You can just feel his energy. It's a different team when he steps on the field. 

I just love to watch him, the way that he moves and moves that ball is just amazing, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he develops over time. I think he's going to be a player in the future who you know we talk about in history.

Gabriela: He seems like he’s very outspoken too, right?

Romero: Yeah, he is confident in his skin. He's a very self-assured young man, and he's fun to watch. His smile just lights up a room. 

You can see that he is having fun out on the soccer pitch, and there are a lot of players that are out there, they're doing what they do, they're doing their job, and you don't feel that energy.

Gabriela: Going back to the intersections that you're pointing out about Latinos — being a Latina, being gay, being an attorney. How do you feel that has changed since you first got in law school? Do you see a progression, more acceptance, more diversity?

Romero: I was very fortunate. I went to Rutgers Law School, which has a Minority Student Program. I was surrounded in law school by other Latinos, by a lot of Black students, and poor white students. The program is really vibrant on all levels in regard to the people that they accept into the program. 

So I started my legal career surrounded by other Latino lawyers, which is very rare, right? When I joined my first law firm, there were at least a couple of other Hispanic attorneys there, including a couple of the partners. That was helpful just to have those kinds of mentors, and be able to see myself in others who were successful at the firm.

But it hasn't changed much over the years, unfortunately. Especially when you look at law firms, I think it's like less than 1% are Hispanic, and we've not really moved that needle far over the years. 

Unfortunately, I don't know why that is. I try to go out of my way to speak at law firm events to reach out to other Hispanics within the firm — whether they are lawyers or not — and to really be a force of change in the ways that I can, just by showing up and being available, mentoring people, and doing all the things that I can do. 

There are definitely more Hispanic lawyers nationally now than there were when I first became a lawyer. I would like to see more of them in positions like general counsel, in positions like partner at a law firm, like myself, and see more leadership among the lawyers who are Latino and Hispanic.

Gabriela: What would you say to the younger generation, who sometimes don't even consider this representation, these leadership positions, to encourage them to pursue their dreams and pursue being an attorney?

Romero: I speak often to kids in high school and in middle school, and my message is clear: I came from an immigrant family. I worked in a Jersey diner. That was our family business, and we had no lawyers in the family. My mom never graduated high school. My grandfather never spoke English — like very little English until the day he died. 

And you know, I'm public school educated all the way through. You can do it. I became the United States Attorney with that background. Everyone has the ability to succeed, to do well, to get good grades, to move ahead, and to thrive and be successful. That's always been my message when I meet with students. 

The important thing is to show up to volunteer for the work that nobody else wants to do, to have a positive attitude, to look out for mentors and people who can be not just your mentors, but your champions, who will fight for you for the promotion and for the things that will help you succeed and get ahead. If you are willing to put the time in and work hard and do those kinds of things, you have what it takes. That's my message for the youth.

Gabriela: Thank you so much, former U.S. Attorney, Ms. Romero. This was really inspiring, and I really appreciate you taking the time.

Romero: Absolutely! Any time. I love to do these kinds of things, and I just love to be a force for change, for inspiration, for all those things. It is truly my honor to get to speak with you today.