U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on 15 Aug. issued a two-page order rescinding Washington, D.C.’s sanctuary-city directives and stripping day-to-day authority from Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith. The order, titled “Restoring Safety and Security to the District of Columbia,” designates Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrence C. Cole as the city’s emergency police commissioner, giving him full power to issue directives to MPD personnel and approve any future departmental orders. Bondi’s directive explicitly nullifies previous MPD rules that limited cooperation with federal immigration authorities, including bans on arrests based solely on immigration detainers or inquiries into immigration status. The attorney general said the measures were necessary to “restore safety and security” in the capital following a presidential declaration of emergency. The Justice Department broadened the federal role a day later, deputizing U.S. Secret Service agents and Metro Transit Police officers as Special Deputy U.S. Marshals. The designation allows the officers to enforce both federal and local laws and to make warrantless arrests across the District. Federal agents have since increased their visible presence around Union Station and other transit hubs. The moves effectively place key aspects of policing in Washington under federal control, superseding local leadership and immigration-protection policies that had been in place since 2023. City officials have not yet commented publicly on how long the emergency arrangement will remain in force.