'The Focus Should Be On Violent Crime': Mayor Muriel Bowser Decries ICE Presence In D.C.

During a press briefing on Monday, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser answered a question about ICE.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mayor. Jenny Gathright with the Washington Post. There's been video of ICE

00:05arrests spreading all across social media, particularly one at 14 at our Northwest over

00:10the weekend where ICE agents tackled a delivery driver and took him into custody. What's your

00:17reaction when you're seeing these videos in the city, how they're affecting people, and then a

00:21follow-up. Given that the judge in the lawsuit has yet to officially rule on whether MPD will be

00:27forced to cooperate with ICE, what do you want MPD officers to be doing in the meantime as they're

00:34going around the city and potentially being asked to cooperate with these kinds of arrests?

00:39So let me start. I don't want to comment on individual incidents because I won't have all

00:44of the details. I will say this, however, the focus should be on violent crime, and that's what has

00:51been promoted, that we're focusing on violent criminals and violent offenders and violence.

00:59And nobody is against focusing on driving down any level of violence. And so if this is really

01:06about immigration enforcement, I think the administration should make that play.