SANCTU-WARY CITY D.C. claims its laws protect undocumented people, but court documents describe MPD sharing information with ICE. Both agencies say it never happened. By Will Lennon
On March 18, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it would focus its removal efforts on people with criminal backgrounds who are subject to mandatory detention and on people who posed “safety risks” to the public. In spite of the policy change, the agency’s presence is still acutely felt in Washington, D.C., thanks in part to continued raids and a massive COVID-19 outbreak at a nearby ICE detention center. D.C. considers itself a sanctuary city, and Mayor Muriel Bowser touts the Immigrant Justice Legal Service grant program, which funds legal services, “Know Your Rights” workshops, and other resources, as evidence of her administration’s commitment to undocumented residents. The Bowser administration committed $2.5 million to the program for 2020. In June, D.C.’s government facilitated additional relief for undocumented people that COVID-19 impacted. In partnership with the Greater Washington Community Foundation and Events DC, the Executive Office of the Mayor supported the distribution of a $5 million relief fund for undocumented workers. “On any given day, the D.C. Government provides for our residents when they seek medical care, attend school, or call police for help regardless of their status,” John Falcicchio, deputy mayor for planning and economic development, said in a post announcing the relief fund. Whether undocumented community members are actually adequately protected
by D.C.’s sanctuary policies is still a matter of controversy. Just last summer, documents obtained by City Paper through a public records request revealed that D.C.’s Department of Corrections had been honoring detainers from ICE by alerting the federal agency in advance when they released undocumented people from custody. New sanctuary legislation from the D.C. Council was passed in response to the DOC’s policy. The law, which explicitly forbids the DOC from honoring ICE detainers, is temporary and expires on Oct. 9, 2020, but a public hearing on a permanent version of the legislation is scheduled for Oct. 1. “ICE has created an unsafe, fearful environment for the District’s immigrant residents,” says a resolution attached to the Council’s sanctuary legislation. “When the District cooperates with ICE, trust in District agencies by the immigrant community erodes, and public safety is compromised. Immigrant residents become less likely to seek the help of District agencies, particularly law enforcement.” One councilmember, Ward 1’s Brianne Nadeau, has even suggested that members of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department work with ICE, in spite of policies that restrict the District from contributing resources to federal immigration enforcement activities. Court documents obtained by City Paper appear to corroborate this. According to the documents, MPD contacted ICE at least twice with information about an undocumented person.
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The documents say the first incident occurred in December 2019, a month to the day after Mayor Bowser signed the Sanctuary Values Temporary Amendment Act, which limits D.C.’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The second incident is described as having occurred in January 2020, at the same library where, in November 2016, Mayor Bowser told protestors “we are a sanctuary city and our policies are clear.” ICE denies that the contacts described in the sworn affidavit from an ICE deportation officer ever happened. MPD says they had “no information on [their] end to suggest that MPD notified ICE about the undocumented individual named in the affidavit.” The first instance of collaboration described in the court documents occurred on Dec. 18, 2019, when MPD officers arrested an undocumented individual in the Columbia Heights Target. According to an incident report, the individual was charging their phone in the cafe area when Target security called the police. Target employees had barred the individual from the store the previous day. “MPD notified ICE of [the undocumented person’s] arrest for misdemeanor unlawful entry while [they were] present inside a shopping mall,” says the affidavit by an ICE deportation officer. “The DC Department of Corrections, where [the undocumented person] was being held, prohibited ICE from interviewing [them], and [they were] subsequently released.”
According to a document filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office requesting the individual be released to ICE custody, D.C.’s Department of Corrections appears to be following the letter of the Council’s sanctuary law. “[F]ederal agents from ICE have reported recent experiences in which the D.C. Jail has failed to honor detainers, and instead, released defendants who have no lawful authority to reside in the United States directly into the community,” wrote an assistant U.S. attorney. Christine Miller, treasurer of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1A, which includes the part of Columbia Heights where the first incident occurred, says she has heard rumors about similar ICE activities in the area before. She believes such talk agitates an already nervous relationship between undocumented people and the D.C. government. “It erodes a trust that’s already thin and was made thinner when Trump took office,” says Miller. “They don’t always trust the people who are supposed to be protecting them … How can I send someone in my community who needs help to the police if there is a breakdown and they are worried they’ll be handed over to ICE?” The undocumented individual was homeless at the time of the Target incident, and was identified by their Catholic Charities ID. When asked for an address, they listed that of a church that provides services for homeless people. The Target where the first incident occurred is just a block from where protesters
