Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a two-page order on Thursday canceling immigration protections in Washington, D.C., and appointing an “emergency police commissioner” for the city’s Metropolitan Police Department.
Bondi’s order, called “Restoring Safety and Security to the District of Columbia,” mainly targeted sanctuary city policies. It canceled any rule that limited how Metropolitan Police officers could deal with illegal immigrants.
She also reduced the power of Metro Police Chief Pamela Smith by naming Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Terry Cole as the department’s new “emergency police commissioner.” He was given all the authority of the position.
As commissioner, Cole can issue general orders, executive orders, and written rules for the department. Current police leaders must now get his approval before making their own directives.
Bondi also canceled three orders made by Metro Police in the last two years that dealt with immigration. The latest was an executive order signed by Smith earlier Thursday that limited cooperation with federal immigration officers.
Smith’s order allowed officers to share information about people not in custody and provide transportation for federal immigration agents. But it stopped officers from checking databases just to find out someone’s immigration status. It also said police could not arrest people based only on federal immigration warrants unless there was another criminal offense.
Bondi reversed that order only hours later. She also canceled a June 2024 rule that limited questions about immigration status and an October 2023 rule that blocked arrests based only on federal immigration warrants.
Her order stated: “To the extent that provisions in this order conflict with any existing MPD directives, those directives are hereby rescinded.”
The move comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday declaring a crime emergency in the nation’s capital and announcing a federal takeover of the police department.
Since then, federal law enforcement officers and the National Guard have been deployed across the city. On Wednesday night alone, agencies arrested 45 people – 29 of them illegal immigrants – as part of the crackdown.
Bondi’s order explained: “Residents of the District of Columbia, the thousands of Americans who commute into the District for work every day, and the millions of tourists from all over the world who visit our nation’s capital have a right to feel safe and to be free from the scourge of violent crime.”
