D.C. Police Move to Share Limited Information With Federal Immigration Officials

The chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington issued an order on Thursday permitting officers to share information about people not in custody, such as those detained during traffic stops and to provide transportation to federal immigration authorities and their detainees.

The directive from Chief Pamela A. Smith, which was reviewed by The New York Times, came as the Trump administration asserted temporary control of the police force, and as a top federal official proclaimed the end of Washington’s status as a sanctuary city.

The change effectively serves as a limited carve-out to how the department enforces a broader ban that prohibits the local police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. Chief Smith’s order on Thursday emphasized that the law remained in place, noting that members of the police department still cannot arrest people solely on immigration charges or hold them in custody at the request of federal officials, if they would have otherwise been released.

The order comes as the local police conduct joint patrols with federal agents as part of President Trump’s takeover of law enforcement in the nation’s capital.

The president’s border czar said this week that the deployment of federal law enforcement across Washington would effectively negate local laws that limit cooperation with deportation efforts.

“D.C. under federal control is not going to be a sanctuary city,” the official, Tom Homan, said on “Fox News” on Wednesday.

“We’re working with the police hand in hand: When we encounter a criminal illegal alien, they’ll be turned over to ICE, and that’s the way it should be,” he added, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, said on social media on Thursday that federal law enforcement agencies had made 45 arrests during their stepped-up overnight patrols in the city. Of those, 29 were “immigration-related,” he said.

The F.B.I. did not immediately respond to a request to clarify the status of the 29 people, and what “immigration-related” arrests entailed. The Metropolitan Police Department also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington declined to comment on what had prompted Chief Smith’s order, and on its implications for the city.

Under Washington’s sanctuary city law, known as the Sanctuary Values Amendment Act of 2020, local police officers are not permitted to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement authorities by handing over anyone in their custody or by giving them access to detention spaces, except when a federal criminal charge is involved.

The law does not explicitly mention transportation or vehicles, which Chief Smith’s order indicated could now be used for federal officials and detainees. The executive order also states that local police officers are permitted to share information only about people who have not been taken into custody.

The rest of the order focuses on what the police are not permitted to do, restating many of the provisions in the sanctuary city law. Officers are not allowed to search databases solely for information about a person’s immigration status, or ask about their status for the purpose of helping with a deportation.

They are also not allowed to arrest people solely because of a federal immigration warrant against them. And they cannot give federal officials identifying information or the ability to question those in local police custody. D.C. officers are not allowed to hold a person in custody at the request of a federal official, the order stated.

Yet the concessions in the order reflected the increasing pressure on city officials from Mr. Trump as he tries to broaden his immigration crackdown. Earlier this year, the House also voted to repeal Washington’s sanctuary city law and force full cooperation with federal authorities. The Senate has not yet taken up the legislation.