In a move as sweeping as it is symbolic, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a forceful two-page order on Thursday that not only rescinds Washington, D.C.’s most recent sanctuary city protections, but also reassigns the leadership of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to a federal official — all part of a rapidly intensifying federal crackdown on crime and illegal immigration in the nation’s capital.
The order, titled “Restoring Safety and Security to the District of Columbia,” follows President Donald Trump’s declaration of a public safety emergency in the District earlier this week. That executive order paved the way for a full-scale federal intervention, and Bondi’s Thursday directive is perhaps the most pointed example yet of how quickly — and thoroughly — the Trump administration is reshaping the District’s law enforcement landscape.
At the heart of Bondi’s order is the rescinding of three MPD policies issued over the past two years, all of which placed limits on how D.C. police officers could engage with federal immigration enforcement.
These included prohibitions on arrests based solely on ICE detainers or immigration status checks, as well as limits on when officers could share information or assist in federal operations. Chief Pamela Smith’s own executive order, issued just hours earlier on Thursday, was among the first to be struck down.
While Smith’s directive appeared to give some leeway — such as allowing information-sharing and transportation support for ICE — it also maintained strict boundaries, explicitly banning arrests based solely on immigration status and barring inquiries made solely for immigration checks. That was enough for Bondi to overturn it entirely, making clear in her order: “To the extent that provisions in this order conflict with any existing MPD directives, those directives are hereby rescinded.”
But Bondi didn’t stop at reversing policies. She went a step further — and a bold one at that — by removing Chief Smith from operational control and appointing DEA Administrator Terry Cole as the “emergency police commissioner” of the MPD. Cole now wields full command authority, with the power to issue general and executive orders across the entire department. Crucially, all current MPD leadership must obtain Cole’s approval before implementing any new directives.
The federalization of D.C. law enforcement is no longer theoretical — it’s operational.
Just two days earlier, federal agents and National Guard units began coordinated patrols throughout the city, and on Wednesday night alone, 45 individuals were arrested — 29 of them illegal immigrants. The crackdown is part of a broader mission to restore what the administration is calling "law and order" to a city long criticized by conservatives for its progressive approach to policing, immigration, and public safety.
Bondi’s order echoes that sentiment, stating plainly: “Residents of the District of Columbia, the thousands of Americans who commute into the District for work every day, and the millions of tourists… have a right to feel safe.”