The Trump administration is scrapping Washington D.C.’s longstanding “sanctuary” policies and enabling local police to collaborate with ICE during the president’s federal takeover of the city, CBS News reports.
In a directive issued on Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi rolled back several policies that previously curtailed officers’ ability to work with federal immigration agents, while naming a new “emergency police commissioner” to oversee the department for the duration of Trump’s takeover.
That directive rescinded an order Metropolitan Department Police Chief Pamela Smith had just issued on Thursday, which allowed police to share information with ICE about people who weren’t in custody while limiting their ability to aid agents in other ways.
It also canceled other MPD guidance, which barred officers from arresting people solely based on an immigration warrant and required them to have a warrant for an underlying crime. Officers are now able to search databases for a person’s immigration status under Bondi’s directive.
Her memo temporarily strips D.C. police leadership of its authority as well, naming Drug Enforcement Administration Chief Terry Cole as the “emergency police commissioner” and giving him the “powers and duties vested in the District of Columbia Chief of Police.” Any new orders by D.C. police will require Cole’s approval, per the directive.
