D.C. police can alert ICE during traffic stops under new order

The big picture: Trump praised the move Thursday, saying that a next step for nationwide immigration enforcement would be identifying undocumented immigrants during traffic stops.

• "I think that's going to happen all over the country. We want to stop crime," Trump said during remarks in the Oval Office.
• When asked by reporters, Trump did not say whether his administration pressured Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith to change D.C.'s policy.

State of play: Smith's order, first reported by NBC4, allows officers to share information with federal immigration agents about people "not in custody (e.g., during traffic stops)."

• MPD can also provide transportation for immigration agents or detainees.

Context: D.C.'s sanctuary city law — which has been under threat — prohibits local police from cooperating with ICE to detain undocumented immigrants.

• Mayor Muriel Bowser moved to quietly repeal the law in May under a provision in the 2026 budget proposal.
• The D.C. Council rejected the repeal in budget negotiations, and the law remains in effect.

Smith's order notes several sanctuary protections, emphasizing that MPD cannot:

• Conduct immigration-status checks unless they're tied to a criminal investigation.
• Arrest people solely on federal immigration warrants without a criminal charge.
• Share personal, medical or criminal case data of those in MPD custody.
• Permit federal questioning of people in MPD custody.
• Hold someone past their release deadline at the request of immigration authorities.

What they're saying: Trump's border czar Tom Homan challenged D.C.'s status Wednesday on Fox News, saying that under federal control, D.C. will not be a sanctuary city.

• "We're working with the police hand in hand, and when we encounter criminal illegal aliens, they'll be turned over to ICE," Homan said.

Bowser's office declined Axios' request for comment.

By the numbers: Dozens of immigration-related arrests have been made under Trump's emergency crackdown in the District, including 29 on Wednesday night, a White House official tells Axios.

• Homeland Security and ICE agents set up a traffic stop on 14th Street near Columbia Heights on Wednesday evening, the Washington Post reports, which included more than 20 law enforcement officers.
• An officer at the scene told onlookers that agents were screening for "driving eligibility" and "status," according to the Post. Two people were detained.

Meanwhile, D.C. immigrant and civil rights advocates are sounding alarms over the checkpoints and traffic stops, which they say encourage racial profiling.

• "One of the things we know from other parts of the country, especially the South, is that checkpoints and driving tickets are one of the main mechanisms by which people are detained," Amy Fischer of DC Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network tells Axios.
• Fischer says they're also alarmed by reports of immigrant food delivery drivers being stopped and arrested on the job.
• There's also growing concern that immigrants won't report crimes for fear of exposing themselves to ICE.

Fischer's organization, which provides legal and aid services to immigrants and operates an ICE hotline, is overwhelmed. "The phone has been literally ringing off the hook," Fischer tells Axios.

• They're tracking activity in Columbia Heights and Petworth — home to many immigrant communities — as well as checkpoints on New York Avenue and Benning Road Southeast.
• But Fischer says hotline calls are coming in from every corner of the city. "People are very scared."

Go deeper: Trump wants to use traffic stops to target undocumented immigrants