A report by the D.C. Council Committee on Public Works and Operations criticizes Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration, accusing it of failing to be transparent with residents about police collaboration with federal immigration authorities.
Bowser and city officials, including D.C. police, have insisted officers do not participate in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities. However, the report cites witness testimony and media reports placing D.C. police at the scene of some ICE operations.
On Thursday, the day after ICE agents in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good, Bowser weighed in.
“You have people who are unaccustomed to urban policing trying to police in an urban environment,” Bowser said. “I’m not a police officer; I’m not in law enforcement, but what I saw was completely avoidable. And a woman died.”
Bowser would not directly comment on the report, but said she is reviewing it.
The outgoing mayor did say she understands people’s outrage when it comes to ICE’s deployment, but that outrage should be placed where it belongs: Congress.
“You could ask me a thousand questions; you could send a thousand questions to the chief about ICE,” she said. “ICE is patrolling American cities. If we don’t want that, Congress has to stop funding ICE because thousands of agents who are untrained to police in urban environments are on our streets. That’s where the questions should be placed.”
D.C. Council members have repeatedly asked officials why police officers were present at immigration enforcement scenes, but officials have declined to explain. Testimony in the report indicated it appeared the officers were cooperating with ICE.
The committee noted Bowser faced a challenging situation under President Donald Trump, who is known for retaliating against politicians who’ve defied him. Nevertheless, the report urged Bowser and D.C. police to reverse policies that facilitated greater cooperation with federal immigration agents and called for increased transparency about the nature of that collaboration.
Immigration enforcement in D.C. intensified in August after Trump declared a crime emergency and assumed control of the city’s police department for 30 days.
Metropolitan Police Department officials have said D.C. police officers do not patrol with ICE agents, but federal officers who do patrol with city officers may conduct immigration enforcement.
The report, published Thursday, further suggested the public has lost confidence in police.
