As part of President Donald Trump’s escalating takeover of Washington, D.C., Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday night placed the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, in charge of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, using “emergency” powers to sideline the department’s current chief, Pamela Smith.
Bondi’s memo effectively eliminated D.C.’s status as a “sanctuary city” for undocumented migrants, slashing a last-minute policy put in place by the District of Columbia’s police chief to protect immigrants from Trump’s ongoing power play.
The memo also directs city cops to effectively serve as an extension of Immigration and Customs Enforcement by participating in immigration raids, suspending several directives put in place under Smith to prohibit cops from doing so.