Attorney General Pam Bondi directed the rescission of a number of Washington, D.C., policing policies on immigration, declaring “DC’s sanctuary policies no longer apply.”
In a series of late Thursday actions, Bondi targeted several long-standing policies as well as a Thursday directive that increased Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) cooperation with federal authorities on immigration matters but barred making inquiries or arrests based solely on someone’s immigration status.
Along with rescinding that policy, Bondi rescinded two other orders barring MPD officers from conducting immigration arrests for people that have no other criminal arrest warrant and to not inquire about someone’s immigration status for the sole purpose of “enforcing civil immigration laws.”
Bondi also directed D.C. police to fully enforce a crowd control law that “makes it unlawful to crowd or obstruct streets, public or private building entrances, passage through parks, and engage in or continue demonstrations where it is unlawful or after being told to cease engaging,” Justice Department spokesperson Chad Gilmartin wrote on social media.
D.C. officials immediately cast doubt on whether Bondi had the authority to take such actions, which came along with naming Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole as Washington’s “emergency police commissioner.”
It’s not clear Bondi has the authority to do so, a move that launched a swift lawsuit from the D.C. attorney general’s office and questions from D.C. leaders.
In his letter to MPD Chief Pamela Smith, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) argued the Home Rule Act — the law under which President Trump has temporarily assumed control of the District’s police — did not allow for the federal government to directly alter the chain of command.
“It is my opinion that the Bondi Order is unlawful, and that you are not legally obligated to follow it,” he wrote.
In sharing the letter on the social platform X, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) said that while D.C. must provide its police for federal services, “there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official.”
D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson (I) also argued Bondi had no ability to cast aside existing D.C. policies.
“Respectfully, the Attorney General does not have the authority to revoke laws,” she wrote on X.