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.
“The proliferation of illegal aliens into our country during the prior administration, including into our nation’s capital, presents extreme public safety and national security risks to our country,” Bondi claimed in the memo, while also taking aim at sanctuary city policies that she said “actively shield criminal aliens.”
“Cole shall serve as MPD’s Emergency Police Commissioner for the duration of the emergency declared by the president,” she wrote in a signed memo, adding that he “shall have the authority to issue any general orders.”
.@AGPamBondi on ordering the END of D.C.'s so-called "sanctuary" policies: "You must comply. You must give the information to our @ICEgov, to our @DHSgov officers — if they have information of an illegal alien living in D.C., they must give us that information." https://t.co/iqXYcvhqe7 pic.twitter.com/9AAPKWeYTM
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 15, 2025
Her orders also purport to make Smith a chief in name only. Bondi ordered that she “must receive approval from Commissioner Cole before issuing any further directives to the MPD.”
The situation appearas to be headed for a standoff in the courts after D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sent a letter to Smith late Thursday night saying he did not believe Bondi had the authority to issue the directive in the first place.
“Section 740 of the Home Rule Act ... does not authorize the President, or his delegee, to remove or replace the Chief of Police, to alter the chain of command within MPD, to demand services directly from you, MPD, or anyone other than the Mayor, to rescind or suspend MPD orders or directives, or to set the general enforcement priorities of the MPD,” he wrote.
Mayor Muriel Bowser seemingly agreed with the sentiment in a post on X, writing: “Let us be clear about what the law requires during a Presidential declared emergency: it requires the mayor of Washington, DC to provide the services of the Metropolitan Police Department for federal purposes at the request of the President. We have followed the law.”
“In reference to the U.S. Attorney General’s order, there is no statute that conveys the District’s personnel authority to a federal official,” she added.
Bondi’s directive intensifies Trump’s already aggressive federal seizure of the District’s law enforcement this week, which included the deployment of National Guard members in the city’s streets and the stationing of FBI agents as common street cops questioning bystanders and peeking into parked cars.
In the midst of that tension, the D.C. police chief had issued an executive order earlier Thursday outlining the extent to which city cops could assist in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. She eased up on a previous city policy by allowing officers to transport ICE agents and detainees, but Smith still strictly forbade cops from arresting people “solely on federal immigration warrants.”
But Bondi has now specifically rescinded that order — and also suspended sections of two previous orders limiting city cops from partaking in immigration raids. By doing so, the attorney general cleared the way for police to query a database to check on someone’s immigration status and also arrest immigrants without a judge’s signed criminal warrant.
In a move that could be seen as a direct attempt to halt public protest against the sudden appearance of American troops and militarized checkpoints on U.S. soil, Bondi also directed city police to crack down on crowds — or even individuals — who block roads or sidewalks.
In her order, Bondi commanded D.C. police to enforce, “to the maximum extent permissible by law,” a city ordinance that forbids “crowding, obstructing, or incommoding … any street, avenue, alley, road, highway, or sidewalk.”