Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Thursday evening that Washington, DC’s mayor and police must accept Terry Cole, head of the Drug Enforcement Agency, as the city’s new “emergency police commissioner.” Bondi said Cole would take full control of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) during the federal takeover.
The order also required Mayor Muriel Bowser and the MPD to end DC’s sanctuary city policies. But within hours, both Bowser and DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb made it clear they would not comply.
Bowser rejected the directive on social media, writing, “There is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.” She added that DC has already followed the law by providing police services to the federal government when required during a presidential emergency.
Schwalb also reviewed the order and declared it illegal. In a letter to MPD Chief Pamela Smith, he wrote: “It is my opinion that the Bondi order is unlawful, and that you are not legally obligated to follow it.”
According to Schwalb, the Home Rule Act does not give President Donald Trump the power to fire or replace the police chief, change MPD’s chain of command, or control local law enforcement decisions. He said Bondi’s order went far beyond what the law allows.
Bondi’s order also told MPD to cancel a directive Chief Smith had signed earlier that day. That directive limited officers’ ability to share information with federal immigration officials. Under Bondi’s instructions, MPD leaders would now need Commissioner Cole’s approval before issuing new directives.
Justice Department officials told CNN they believed Smith’s earlier directive was designed to protect sanctuary city policies, which the DOJ has vowed to end. Bondi also ordered Bowser to scrap two other MPD rules protecting undocumented migrants, including one that prevents arrests based only on federal immigration warrants.
This showdown comes after President Trump declared a crime emergency earlier this week and put DC’s police under federal control, naming Cole as interim commissioner.
Schwalb told Chief Smith in his letter that Trump and Bondi were overstepping their authority: “You are the lawfully appointed Chief of Police of the District of Columbia. Therefore, members of MPD must continue to follow your orders and not orders of any official not appointed by the Mayor.”
Bondi defended the federal takeover, saying in a Fox News interview: “DC will not remain a sanctuary city actively shielding criminal aliens. Will not happen.”
DC City Council member Christina Henderson also responded online, writing: “Respectfully, the Attorney General does not have the authority to revoke laws.”
Earlier Thursday, Chief Smith had issued a separate order that allowed DC police to share some information with federal immigration agencies and assist them in transportation. However, the order still banned officers from:
- searching databases only to check immigration status,
- questioning people about immigration status to enforce civil laws, and
- arresting anyone solely on federal immigration warrants.
