DC residents deserve answers on MPD & ICE coordination (Councilmember's Corner)
/(photo Office of CM Janeese Lewis George)
by Janeese Lewis George
Ward 4 Councilmember
School should be a safe place for all children to learn. But over the last few months, many Ward 4 children at schools such as John Lewis Elementary School, E.L. Haynes, and DC Bilingual have learned a much more painful lesson instead.
Students in the District have personally witnessed forceful, racially-motivated immigration arrests – detentions that occurred just steps away from their school grounds during arrival or dismissal while children screamed in fear.
Over the past few weeks, dismayed school leaders, families and neighbors have reached out to my office to report that MPD officers accompanied federal immigration agents making these arrests:
During an arrest outside of John Lewis Elementary School, the Parent, Staff, and Community Organization reported that “young students who witnessed the police action were reduced to tears, asking if they too would be ‘taken away.’”
Outside of E.L. Haynes Public Charter School, school staff had to “help [a] former student and ensure their safety, resulting in one staff member being pushed by an agent.”
The CEO of DC Bilingual Public Charter School reported that an MPD officer threatened her with arrest for First Amendment activity, and that a second MPD officer “remarked caustically to alarmed bystanders: ‘If you have such a problem with us, don’t call 911 next time.’”
The DC Charter School Alliance has reported that these incidents “have created a climate of fear for many District residents—especially our black and brown children.”
The majority of immigration arrests in DC have targeted family, friends, and neighbors without any criminal conviction. In the course of these arrests, residents have witnessed disturbing violations of immigrants’ civil liberties and due process rights – with agents seemingly carrying out arrests solely on basis of race than for probable cause.
MPD’s coordination with federal immigration law enforcement is a violation of our trust and strikes a devastating blow to the trust and accountability between police and the communities they serve. It flies in the face of the sanctuary values we’ve adopted as a city and the overwhelming local opposition to the federal surge in immigration enforcement.
I’ve called repeatedly for a hearing on MPD and federal coordination, and for an end to immigration enforcement activity near sensitive locations like schools, hospitals and places of worship. DC residents deserve and demand transparency on the extent to which MPD is required to support the federal government in its unlawful, anti-immigrant campaign that has terrorized families across the District.
Now is the time to reach out to DC’s leaders to demand they do more to protect public safety for all in our city:
Reach out to Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmember Brooke Pinto to demand they hold a hearing on MPD and federal coordination.
Email Mayor Bowser and demand that she issue a new mayoral order that permits federal coordination only to the extent necessary – rather than requiring coordination “to the maximum extend allowable by law.”
Signs have popped up across the city to mark where our neighbors have been taken: “ICE kidnapping happened here.” Every one of these signs marks the loss of someone’s neighbor, someone’s loved one, someone’s friend. Each sign marks yet another step in the march toward authoritarianism.
Our police force must prioritize our community needs – not the cruel agenda of a federal administration determined to tear immigrant families apart. DC residents deserve answers on the extent to which coordination in happening with taxpayer resources.
