U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has moved to rescind new guidelines issued by D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith that limited collaboration between local police and ICE agents. The original guidelines, issued on Thursday, allowed officers to share information and provide transportation for immigration enforcement but prohibited database searches solely for immigration status and arrests based solely on immigration warrants.
Bondi, who gained oversight of the Metropolitan Police Department after President Donald Trump invoked the Home Rule Act on Monday, has now removed those restrictions. This clears the way for officers to assist ICE by searching databases and making arrests related to immigration enforcement as part of Trump's urban crime crackdown.
However, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sent a letter to Chief Smith, arguing that Bondi's directives are unlawful. Schwalb stated that police officers must continue to follow Smith's orders and not those of any official not appointed by the mayor. The letter was posted on social media by Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday evening.
Bondi also moved to clear homeless encampments and appointed DEA chief Terry Cole as D.C.'s new emergency police commissioner. The changes come after Trump federalized D.C. law enforcement, citing high violent crime despite official statistics showing offenses at a 30-year low. Opponents have called the move a distraction tactic.
The National Guard, along with FBI, DEA, and Homeland Security agents, have been deployed to patrol historic landmarks. Their presence has sparked protests, with about 100 people demonstrating against traffic stops in northwest Washington on Wednesday evening, chanting slogans and holding signs warning drivers about checkpoints.
Mayor Bowser has criticized the actions as an authoritarian push and argued they highlight the need for D.C. statehood.
