DC police will share information on anyone officers encounter with ICE agents
On Thursday, an executive order from Smith said Metropolitan Police Department officers could assist ICE's crackdown on undocumented migrants by 'sharing information about persons not in MPD custody' and 'providing transportation for federal immigration agency employees and detained subjects.'
However, it also stated that members 'shall not make any inquiry through any database solely for the purpose of inquiring about an individual's immigration status' and 'shall not arrest individuals based solely on federal immigration warrants or detainers as long as there is no additional crime warrant or underlying offense for which the individual is subject to arrest.'
Bondi – who was handed ultimate responsibility for the MPD after Trump invoked Section 740 of the Home Rule Act on Monday to federalize D.C. law enforcement – has now moved to remove those instructions, clearing the way for officers to help ICE by searching databases and carrying out arrests after all.
However, a letter sent to Smith from District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb, posted to social media by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday evening, argued that Bondi's directives were not consistent with federal law.
'It is my opinion that the Bondi Order is unlawful, and that you are not legally obligated to follow it,' Schwalb told Smith, adding that police officers in the capital 'must' continue to follow her orders 'and not the order of any official not appointed by the mayor.'
Bondi also moved on Thursday to clear out the city's homeless encampments and appoint Drug Enforcement Administration chief Terry Cole as D.C.'s new 'emergency police commissioner.'
The upheaval comes after Trump took over D.C. law enforcement while insisting the nation's capital city is overrun by violent street crime – despite the official statistics suggesting offenses are actually at a 30-year low. His opponents calling the move a 'distraction' tactic.
The National Guard, alongside agents from the FBI, DEA, and Homeland Security, were dispatched to the streets of Washington to patrol its historic landmarks, including the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial.
Their presence has not been entirely welcomed, however, with traffic stops in the northwest of the city greeted by protests from around 100 members of the public on Wednesday evening.
Some of the protesters chanted, 'Go home, fascists!' while others held aloft signs that read, 'Police checkpoint ahead' and 'ICE,' to warn approaching drivers about the active checkpoint.
Mayor Bowser has also criticized the Trump administration's actions, saying they illustrate precisely why she believes the district should be granted statehood and called them 'an authoritarian push.'
Solve the daily Crossword
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
36 minutes ago
- CNN
Execution date set for Florida man who killed estranged wife's sister and parents, set fire to house
A Florida man who fatally stabbed his estranged wife's sister and parents and then set fire to their house is scheduled for execution in Florida under a death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. David Pittman, 63, is set to die Sept. 17 in the record-extending 12th execution scheduled for this year. DeSantis signed the warrant Friday, as two other men, Kayle Bates and Curtis Windom, await execution later this month. The highest previous annual total of recent Florida executions is eight in 2014, since the death penalty was restored in 1976 by the US Supreme Court. Florida has already executed nine people this year, more than any other state, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each. A total of 28 people have been executed so far this year in the US, exceeding the 25 executions carried out last year. It ties 2015, when 28 people were also put to death. Pittman was convicted and sentenced to death in 1991 on three counts of first-degree murder, according to court records. Jurors also found him guilty of arson and grand theft. Pittman and his wife, Marie, were going through a divorce in May 1990, when Pittman went to the Polk County home of her parents, Clarence and Barbara Knowles, officials said. Pittman fatally stabbed the couple, as well as their younger daughter, Bonnie. He then set fire to the house and stole Bonnie Knowles' car, which he also set on fire, investigators said. A witnessed identified Pittman as the person running away from the burning car. A jailhouse informant also testified that Pittman had admitted to the killings. The Florida Supreme Court is already scheduled to hear an appeal. An appeal will also likely be filed with the US Supreme Court.
Yahoo
42 minutes ago
- Yahoo
I visited Birmingham's Soho Road to hear the real story beyond the drugs, drunks and sex work
Three men slump in a bus shelter, rambling and swigging from beer cans. Across the street, a stumbling group shout in disagreement, drinks in one hand, cigarettes in another. It's a sight more fitting of a Saturday night on Broad Street. Sadly, this is the reality at 9am on a Tuesday morning in one of Birmingham's busiest high streets. Here on Soho Road, Handsworth, the spiralling problem of alcohol and drug abuse is only getting worse. In a concerning video, up to six people were seen passed out in the street amid a 'bad batch of black mamba'. Read more: Police warning over specific family car targeted by criminals as 'flavour of the month' Though an arterial route through the city, it's one that's now synonymous with prostitution, anti-social behaviour and lately, the "huge boom" of exempt housing. Locals have become scared to shop there, and some now even want to move from the area they've called home for decades. But behind the scenes are those who are here to stay, a community that's fighting to survive in an increasingly challenging climate. We took a walk along the busy mile-long strip with resident and community activist, Shuranjeet Singh, to hear the real story of Soho Road as locals battle for a brighter future. With every new betting shop, or new exempt housing that's approved for the area, there's another that was rejected thanks to those residents who fought back, he points out. READ MORE: In pictures: The real story of Soho Road as community fight to survive amid challenges As we walk along, the main issue of drink and drugs is impossible to miss. Most bus shelters we pass are occupied with intoxicated men huddled under cover. Those awake enough to move make their presence known by shouting aggressively at one another. "This is the kind of mild peril we're seeing intensify," Mr Singh explains as we begin the walking tour. "Bus stops that should be shelters are now used by people who are incredibly intoxicated. "That in itself, particularly for elderly women, is enough to not feel as safe stood in close proximity. "I speak to people who want to come spend time on their high street, but don't feel safe making their way here or while they're there. But so many communities are still fighting which gives me a lot of hope and energy. So much work goes on behind the scenes to improve the area, he says, but unfortunately a recent project adding artwork to each bus shelters has only helped to hide the anti-social behaviour going on inside them. "I helped out and designed all of them, then you find out what it means in reality, police then can't see what's going on behind them," he says. An area steeped in history, Handsworth is full of beautiful, five or six bed Victorian homes. However, as more residents move out, more of these are fast becoming HMOs and exempt accommodations. "With a dwindling perception of the area, people want to move out but don't want to sell their properties, and families don't want to move in, so it's a bit of a spiral," he adds. Despite the problems, Mr Singh stresses that new businesses are choosing to open up here in an area boasting one of the city's most diverse food scenes. Via Delhi, Bocadias and Arya are just a handful of the new places to pop up in the street. In any other area, he argues empty shops would stay derelict, bringing down the appearance. Here however, each time a shop closes up to 20 enquiries will flood in to occupy the space. Shops that have been open since the late 70s are still going too. As we talk about up and coming businesses, a man with a beer can behind us shouts in the street about prison fights - such is the bizzare complexity of Soho Road. "When people talk about opening up opportunities, this has been that space for the last 70 years and it still is. People are so innovative, industrious," he continues. "The fascinating paradox of Soho Road is that there are challenges, but it's still seen as a place of opportunity. "Handsworth is just a historically very unique place, it's somewhere many have come to make their home when they've just moved to the country - with that came a lot of community work and organising. "In the 70s it wasn't a particularly transient place, that's changed a lot in 15 years. It was somewhere people saw their future, but sadly now I don't think a lot see their future here." Mr Singh, born and bred in Handsworth, chose to return to the area after University while his friends moved out to work in London. "I wanted to build where my roots are. My family are all within a ten minute walk of this point," he explains. "It's one of the most thriving places in the city, you only have to look down and see. We have eight places of worship, but then there's also six or seven bookies and that doesn't look towards an optimistic future, that doesn't make us feel excited, it's a bit of a negative stamp on the local map. "You have people who really like their area, but they're almost going through boxing rounds, one they've just been battered, another they've won." The building housing Monga's, a bridal shop, was due to become yet another betting shop. But thanks to the community, it was rejected and it instead now houses the bespoke store. "It's a really good example of what could have been vs. what is," he comments. Residents are also fighting to reclaim the derelict Bill House as new social housing for the elderly and families. However, the large building, which marks the "gateway to Soho Road", was purchased by an American company who are claimed to be "land-banking" and said to want £3.5million for it. "No developer wants to take it on because they know they won't get the money back," he says as we walk by. "That's been ongoing for two years. We're still pushing for something to happen with the building." Locals, alongside police, are also battling another application for an aparthotel near to primary schools and a nursery. There are already problems with drunks being abusive towards parents picking up their kids, he says. "There are businesses and community organisations offering opportunities, but then in the middle of that, we have issues with waste, housing related issues, and crime and anti-social behaviour," he added. "Everywhere has their challenges, but there are so many amazing things that are being done. There's this sense of warmth here. "There are things that happen behind the scenes, but really communities are doing so much to bring the place up. There's so much civic pride here, but there's a limit, and I worry we'll reach that. To rebuild civic pride is very difficult."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Antonia Hylton cited reporting from the summit that suggested Karoline Leavitt looked frightened after meeting with Putin.
MSNBC host Antonia Hylton has suggested that President Donald Trump's aides, particularly Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, may have been 'frightened' by what they had witnessed during the president's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Saturday night's episode of MSNBC's The Weekend: Primetime, Hylton spoke to former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul—an Obama appointee—about Trump's summit with Putin in Anchorage on Friday. 'A lot of the press corps that was there, they reported in the minutes and hours after the presser that they saw members of the administration, like Karoline Leavitt, look ashen, almost frightened after what they had seen behind closed doors. What did that indicate to you?' Hylton asked McFaul.
