D.C.’s mayor and interim police chief took questions on immigration enforcement after an ICE agent shot and killed an unarmed woman in Minneapolis.
“If we don’t want ICE in our communities, we have to stop funding ICE – and that decision isn’t made here; it’s made at the Congress,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said.
The mayor was asked about her reaction to the killing.
“To me, it just is reflected, when you have people who are unaccustomed to urban policing trying to police in an urban environment. What it looked to me like – very bad, and I’m not a police officer, I’m not in law enforcement – but what I saw was completely avoidable, and a woman died,” she said.
“ICE is patrolling American cities. If we don’t want that, the Congress has to stop funding ICE, because thousands of agents who are untrained to police in urban environments are on our streets,” Bowser added.
In two recent incidents in D.C., federal agents opened fire on drivers who the agents claimed were trying to hit them with their vehicles. In those cases, no one was injured.
Interim Chief of Police Jeffery Carroll was asked about public concerns that might happen here again.
“A lot of these individuals, they don’t work in urban policing. So, us working with federal authorities in the policing operations, being out there, actually helps us make sure that we can work in those areas to help control what’s going on,” he said.
“Obviously, I can’t assure you of anything. Obviously, I can assure you every situation is different, right, that officers encounter out there,” he added. “But I think having the relationship and having the federal authorities working with the officers does help to mitigate some of the challenges that we have with that.”
Nadeau’s report on DC cooperation with immigration enforcement
Departing D.C. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau released a scathing report Thursday that’s critical of how MPD and the Bowser administration have cooperated with federal immigration enforcement.
“The primary finding is the loss of trust between the public and MPD,” she told News4. “The challenge that we’re finding is that the mayor and the chief’s interpretation of the Sanctuary Values Act has opened up a vulnerability whereby they are essentially cooperating with ICE in a manner that does not match with the intent of the law.”
Bowser declined to comment on the report.
Carroll said he has not decided whether to make any changes to MPD policies on cooperating with immigration enforcement.
Last month, Councilmember Brooke Pinto, who oversees public safety, sent a letter to the then-chief requesting detailed answers to several questions related to MPD’s cooperation with federal law enforcement. Carroll said Thursday that he will provide a response, which is due to the council by Friday.
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