Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday night directed the Washington, DC, mayor and police division to end the capital’s sanctuary city policies and formalized the federal authorities’s management of DC police.
In an order, Bondi declared that Terry Cole, the pinnacle of the Drug Enforcement Agency, is now working as the district’s “emergency police commissioner,” giving him full management over the police division through the federal takeover.
Bondi additional ordered the DC Metropolitan Police Department to abandon a directive Chief Pamela Smith signed earlier within the day giving officers limited ability to share information with federal immigration officers. And, the order stated, MPD leaders “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole before issuing any further directives.”
Justice Department officers believed that earlier directive was meant to reinforce the kind of sanctuary city policies that DOJ has vowed to put an end to, a supply accustomed to the matter instructed NCS.
In addition to ordering that the directive be rescinded, Bondi instructed DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to eliminate two further police policies aimed toward defending undocumented migrants, together with one that stops MPD from arresting a person solely for federal immigration warrants.
It’s unclear if the mayor and MPD chief will adjust to the order or how – and whether or not – they plan to reply.
NCS has reached out to the mayor’s workplace and MPD for remark.
The transfer makes clear that the federal police takeover in DC will go hand-in-hand with the Trump administration’s hardline immigration enforcement targets, utilizing management over legislation enforcement within the district as a approach to put an end to the city’s legal guidelines that shield undocumented migrants.
“DC will not remain a sanctuary city actively shielding criminal aliens,” Bondi stated in an interview on Fox News Thursday. “Will not happen.”
Christina Henderson, a member of the DC City Council, responded to the order on social media Thursday, writing “Respectfully, the Attorney General does not have the authority to revoke laws.”
Earlier Thursday, Smith signed an govt order permitting DC police officers to share details about individuals not of their custody with federal immigration enforcement businesses, as properly as permitting native police to help with transporting the businesses’ personnel and detainees.
However, the sooner order — citing DC legislation and police code of conduct — continues to prohibit officers from trying by means of police databases solely for an individual’s immigration standing, from making inquiries about an individual’s immigration standing “for the purpose of determining whether they have violated the civil immigration laws or for the purpose of enforcing civil immigration laws” and from arresting anybody primarily based solely on federal immigration warrants.
This story has been up to date with further info.