Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a new set of orders late Friday clarifying President Trump’s attempt to take over the police department in Washington, leaving Chief Pamela Smith in charge but directing the city’s officers to comply with federal immigration enforcement.
Ms. Bondi agreed to cancel a move that had placed a Trump figure as an overseer for Chief Smith and the police department. Terrance C. Cole, the man she’d placed at the department, will remain as her liaison but will not have veto power over police decisions.
But Ms. Bondi did order the city’s officers to ignore the city’s sanctuary laws and begin cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on reporting illegal immigrants they encounter.
“The proliferation of illegal aliens into our country during the prior administration, including into our nation’s capital, presents extreme public safety and national security risks to our country,” Ms. Bondi wrote in her new order.
She rescinded a previous order Thursday that had made much grander claims about federal control of the police force.
The moves came as part of a deal struck at the hands of U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, an Obama appointee, in a lawsuit filed by D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb.
At issue is what powers Mr. Trump had under the city’s Home Rule Charter, the rules Congress laid out more than 50 years ago when it gave the city some powers to govern itself.
Section 740 of that charter gives the president power to take “emergency control of police.”
The charter says the president determines when there is an emergency that demands “the use of the Metropolitan Police force for federal purposes.” And it says the president gets to determine what level of control is “necessary and appropriate.”
The charter also says his control can last only 48 hours unless he notifies Congress of his actions, getting 30 days total. That could last longer if the legislative branch extends it.
Mr. Trump declared the emergency Monday, saying ‘“crime is out of control in the District of Columbia.” He also formally notified Congress of his action.
Judge Reyes said the charter does give Mr. Trump wide powers in an emergency to order the police to take action. But it doesn’t give him — or his designees — veto power over all police decisions.
“The way that I read this statute is the president can ask, the mayor must provide, but the president can’t control. Which means the president has to act in the affirmative, not say in the negative you can’t do X, Y or Z,” the judge said.
And she rejected the idea of a full takeover.
“The statute would have no meaning at all if the president could say we’re just taking over your police department,” she said.
A Justice Department lawyer told Judge Reyes Ms. Bondi was compelled to act on Thursday after Chief Smith issued orders limiting how her officers would cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The chief said she was abiding by the city’s sanctuary policies.
But Mr. Trump wants more cooperation than that, and he argues his emergency powers under the charter allow him to circumvent the sanctuary policies.
Judge Reyes suggested he was on firm legal footing there.
She said she would put off bigger questions about Mr. Trump’s takeover, such as his claim of an emergency.
At issue there is whether he’s right to claim crime is out of control in the city.
Mr. Schwalb, in his complaint, says violent crime is down 26% since 2024 and the federal Justice Department’s own statistics showed a 35% drop last year compared to 2023. It had the best rate in more than 30 years.
He said even the Trump administration acknowledged that. Former acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin Jr. in April celebrated the drop in violent crime in a press release, and Mr. Trump echoed that in praise of Mr. Martin.
Judge Reyes pointed to those comments in Friday’s hearing, but said she would wait until next week to delve into them.
Mr. Trump, in his emergency declaration, said the city still had among the highest robbery and murder rates for the country’s large cities.
It also had the highest vehicle theft rate, at three times the national average.
“The District of Columbia is, by some measures, among the top 20 percent of the most dangerous cities in the world,” he said.
Chief Smith, in a declaration Mr. Schwalb filed in the case, said the takeover has disrupted the chain of command and could hurt the department’s ability to handle several protests and demonstrations planned for this weekend.
In particular, she said, an order by Ms. Bondi directing police to kick unauthorized people out of public spaces will distract them from their other duties.
“In my judgment, this diversion of resources will undermine public safety in the District,” she said.
