'That's a great step': Trump backs order allowing DC police to collaborate with ICE

On Thursday, President Donald Trump praised the executive order issued by D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela Smith that allows officers conducting traffic stops to notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of encounters with illegal immigrants. During remarks in the Oval Office, the Republican leader told reporters that it was likely that such an immigration law would spread across the country. "When they stop people, they find they're illegal, they report them, they give them to us, etc., that's a very positive thing. I have heard that it just happened. That's a great step. That's a great step, if they're doing that. Yeah, I think this could happen all over the country. We want to stop crime," Trump commented.

Trump's words and Smith's decree came after the conservative leader temporarily took control of the MPD and ordered both the FBI and the National Guard to support law enforcement to combat crime in the capital city. Far from being the first time Trump has supported this type of measure, the fact is that Trump earlier this week suggested similar actions in other cities across the country, including New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Oakland and Chicago.

Details on the order

As reported by NBC Washington, Smith indicated via a memo that members of the Metropolitan Police Department had the authorization to collaborate, "sharing information about persons not in MPD custody," and even "providing transportation for federal immigration agency employees and detained subjects." Likewise, the media outlet detailed that Smith's order states that members "shall not make any inquiry through any database solely for the purpose of inquiring about an individual's immigration status."

For its part, CNN detailed that, under the new order, Capital City police also may not provide information about people in their custody or allow them to be questioned by agents of ICE. "Under the President’s Executive Order, MPD services have been requested to assist ICE with transportation of detainees and traffic stops. Today’s order was meant to clarify but does not change existing MPD policy and District law," a Washington Police spokesman told the media outlet.