Speaking in the wake of Attorney General Pam Bondi deposing the current DC Metro Police Chief and replacing her with a senior DEA official while also revoking DC’s sanctuary city policies, Trump Administration Border Czar Tom Homan discussed with the media what the point of the exercise is and how the DC police will aid the crackdown on illegal immigration.
For reference, Bondi’s order came in the evening of Thursday, August 14. In it, the Attorney General explained that the current state of crime in DC is intolerable and its sanctuary city policies are hampering federal immigration efforts, and so those policies are henceforth revoked and a new police chief will be in place for the period of the federal takeover.
It was on Friday, August 15, that Border Czar Tom Homan took to NewsNation to explain that henceforth DC police officers must cooperate with federal immigration authorities on immigration law, though, contrary to what the media claims, the Trump administration is not asking Washington, D.C., police to directly enforce immigration laws.
Explaining as much, Mr. Homan told NewsNation that law enforcement officers need to do their jobs as law enforcement officers, which generally means just dealing with crime, but can also mean dealing with the illegal immigration problem. He began by noting, “Law enforcement needs to work with law enforcement.”
Continuing, Mr. Homan explained what is being asked of DC-area police officers, which is not the media claim that LEOs have to become immigration authorities, but simply that they should work with the feds when doing so is reasonable and appropriate, saying, “We’re not asking Metro PD to be immigration officers, but when you’re enforcing criminal law and when you find an illegal alien not only in violation of immigration law here illegally but involved with criminal activity, they absolutely should call us.”
Returning to the message about law enforcement later on, Mr. Homan explained that the general message sent by the involvement of federal authorities and large police detachments generally in the DC crime crackdown is a good one. He said, “It’s not just the people that are arresting that are making D.C. safer, it’s the message we’re sending that we’re out here in force.”
Further, he added that both that message and the practical realities of there being a flood of officers on the streets mean that criminals are staying at home, off the streets, driving the crime rate down. He said, “I think there are a lot of criminals staying off the street because they know the city is overwhelmed with law enforcement.”
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Kash Patel, commenting on Friday morning about the effects of the policy, cheered the results of greater law enforcement involvement as well. He said, “18 more arrests with federal partners last night in Washington DC. -8 firearms recovered from criminals -Multiple seizures of illegal drugs -One arrest on warrant for murder -One arrest on warrant for rape We’re now over 120 arrests since President Trump’s initiative began. The good cops are getting the job done.”
Watch National Guard troopers arrive in DC to deal with the crime situation here: