Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith issued an executive order Thursday morning that amends procedures to allow cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, NBC4 reported.
Effective immediately, MPD officers may share "information about persons not in MPD custody," including during traffic stops, and provide "transportation for federal immigration agency employees and detained subjects," according to the order obtained by NBC4.
Smith's EO comes days after President Donald Trump announced that D.C. police would be put under federal control. On Monday, Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in an executive order to declare a "crime emergency" so his administration could take over the city's police force and signed a directive for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to activate the National Guard.
Using temporary powers from the Home Rule Act of 1973, the president can oversee the police for up to 30 days, but any extension would need congressional approval or a legal amendment.
Smith and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser acknowledged Wednesday that having extra boots on the ground is a positive.
"You're talking about 500 additional personnel in the District of Columbia. We're down in numbers with our D.C. police officers. So this enhanced presence is going to impact us in a positive way," Smith said, The Washington Post reported.
Bowser initially pushed back against Trump's measures, citing data that violent crime in D.C. is at its lowest point in 30 years. However, further inspection suggests that MPD's reporting and classification of certain crimes renders the data dubious, at best. Further, a top MPD commander was suspended in May over suspicion of falsifying crime data.
"The Violent Crime Rate in D.C. has worsened, and the Murder Rate has essentially DOUBLED in just over a decade — But these are only the 'official' statistics released by corrupt City Officials," Trump said in a social media post this week. "The REAL numbers are many times worse."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.