00:00Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department is now allowing its officers to cooperate with federal immigration officers, according to NBC Washington, citing an internal memo.
00:12Chief of Metro Police Pamela Smith signed an executive order authorizing MPD's officers to cooperate with federal immigration authorities in specific ways, even though Washington, D.C. is a sanctuary city.
00:25Metro officers can now share personal or identifying information about people who are not currently under arrest or in police custody, even while conducting routine traffic stops with federal immigration agencies.
00:38They can also help transport federal immigration officials and people who have been detained by immigration authorities.
00:44The executive order comes just days after President Trump federalized the Metropolitan Police Department, citing a rise in violent crime as the reason for deploying the National Guard.
00:55Under Trump, federal law enforcement, including ICE, have been deployed to patrol Washington, D.C., alongside local police.
01:02On Thursday, Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office about Chief Smith's executive order.
01:07So what you're saying is that it was a very positive thing when they stop people, they find they're illegal, they report them, they give them to us, etc.
01:13That'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.
01:20Yeah, I think that's going to happen all over the country. We want to stop crime.
01:24Smith's executive order says MPD officers are not to arrest someone based solely on federal immigration warrants unless it's a criminal warrant.
01:33For Straight Arrow News, I'm Lauren Keenan.
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