D.C. police chief expands cooperation with immigration enforcement

Washington, D.C., cops will now be capable of help federal immigration authorities by sharing details about people who find themselves not in police custody and by transporting federal immigration brokers and detained people, in line with a brand new order signed by Metropolitan Police Division chief Pamela Smith and revealed Thursday.

The order represents a shift from the Metropolitan Police Division’s earlier coverage, which restricted cooperation between the division and federal immigration authorities. D.C. regulation nonetheless prohibits native regulation enforcement within the nation’s capital from sharing details about individuals being held in D.C. custody with immigration officers.

Smith’s order doesn’t alter the present D.C. coverage barring cops from looking databases solely to verify somebody’s immigration standing. District of Columbia police additionally could not arrest individuals whose solely crime is being within the U.S. illegally. The Sanctuary Values Modification Act handed in 2020 gave MPD impartial authority from immigration officers.

The town’s standing as a so-called “sanctuary metropolis,” which limits native cooperation with federal immigration brokers, has come into query with the coverage change. A push by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to repeal the sanctuary metropolis standing in a 2026 finances invoice was voted down by D.C. Council in June.

There have been over 140 arrests by regulation enforcement since Aug. 7, when the Trump administration first moved federal police property into the town, in line with the White Home and FBI. FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that not less than 29 arrests made on Wednesday had been “immigration-related.”

CBS Information has reached out to the Metropolitan Police Division and Bowser’s workplace for remark.

On Monday, President Trump introduced he was formally implementing Part 740 of the District of Columbia Dwelling Rule Act of 1973 and inserting the D.C. Metropolitan Police Division “beneath direct federal management.” Below the act, the D.C. mayor should present the president with the MPD’s companies “because the President could deem essential and acceptable” for 48 hours, and as much as 30 days. If the president desires a lengthier extension, Congress should go a joint decision.  

Mr. Trump stated Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi would take management of the division instantly, beneath a public security emergency. A White Home official later stated the association is anticipated to final 30 days.

As of Tuesday, almost 1,500 federal regulation enforcement officers and Nationwide Guard members patrolled Washington, in line with a White Home official. Included amongst them are federal regulation enforcement officers are brokers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Patrol, United States Secret Service, and U.S. Marshalls. 

Eight hundred Nationwide Guard members have been dispatched all through the District, a protection official stated, and their around-the-clock mission to help federal and native regulation enforcement deployed by Mr. Trump began Thursday morning. 

Eleanor Watson

contributed to this report.