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Documents reveal Washington, DC, sanctuary policy for illegals

The public interest group Judicial Watch has obtained documents that reveal that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington, DC, is pursuing a sanctuary policy for illegal aliens. Judicial Watch says it uncovered the documents through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.



Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, says a memo from former DC Metropolitan Police chief Charles H. Ramsey was very revealing. "His memo states that the MPD is not in the business of inquiring about the residency status of the people we serve and is not in the business of enforcing civil immigration laws," Fitton contends. "So that's the signal for the cops -- don't do your job. Don't talk to the feds. And it turns DC into a magnet for illegal immigrants."

The Judicial Watch spokesman says the sanctuary policies of the MPD are a disgrace and an affront to the rule of law. "There's a federal law that prohibits any entity or official from prohibiting any government official or government entity from communicating about someone's illegal immigrant status or legal status," he explains. "Anyone who gets in the way of a cop talking to the feds is in violation of the law."

However, Fitton says, the documents obtained from the Metropolitan Police Department reveal a negative attitude towards enforcing federal immigration laws. The MPD's policy appears to be "a sanctuary policy," he says, "and the documents show an outright hostility towards federal immigration law."

As the department's policy now stands, "it looks like the local bureaucrats are hostile to the enforcement of our nation's immigration laws," the Judicial Watch president notes. "So the cops on the beat are being handcuffed in terms of their ability to do the right thing and look out for illegals," he says.

The federal government has a constitutional responsibility to oversee the affairs of the district, Fitton adds. And, he asserts, that includes making sure the DC police department comes into compliance with federal law.