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A large number of arrests by the newly federalized Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department will likely be illegal immigrants, one expert predicts.
Some 29 of the 45 arrests that were announced by the Trump administration Wednesday were illegal immigrants. A day later, 15 of the 33 arrests were illegal immigrants, including a suspect from China.
“It will not be surprising to hear that a significant portion of arrests that occur under the federal intervention will be criminal aliens,” Jessica Vaughan, director of Policy Studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital. “Washington, D.C., has long suffered from problems with street gangs that include or are majority illegal alien, in part because of sanctuary policies, but also because prior waves of illegal immigration have led to large Central American diasporas in the region.”
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“Gangs like MS-13 and 18th Street like to set up shop in these areas, so they can recruit, extort, and intimidate the population. Any city that tolerates illegal immigration is going to have a problem with criminal aliens who know they will be shielded from immigration enforcement,” Vaughan added.
This week, Attorney General Pam Bondi scrapped sanctuary policies from the department as part of a move that would override city laws on the matter.
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Earlier today, DC Police Chief Pamela Smith issued an order permitting some cooperation with federal immigration authorities, but stopped short of allowing cooperation for the sole purpose of immigration enforcement.
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The short-lived Thursday order from Smith permitted officers to begin “sharing information about persons not in MPD custody” such as during “traffic stops” and to provide “transportation for federal immigration agency employees and detained subjects,” according to NBC 4 Washington.
“This intervention by Trump is an opportunity for ICE to make up for years of being hindered by the DC government, and to clear out criminal aliens who have preyed on the law-abiding population of the city. The gangs and predators will no longer have the run of city parks and public spaces the way they have in the recent past, and the ones who are here illegally will be sent home instead of back to the streets,” Vaughan continued.
Since President Donald Trump announced the police takeover on Monday, several federal agencies, along with the National Guard, have been patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., and they are visible at key locations throughout the capital.
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“Under President Trump and [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem’s leadership, ICE law enforcement is being unleashed to keep America safe from dangerous criminals. As the secretary has announced, ICE and CBP have been deployed to help clean up the streets of our nation’s capital,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated.
“Our message is clear: Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States,” the spokesperson added.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.
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