DC Police Corruption Exhibit

Judicial Watch Releases

06-3105 US v.. Rayburn Bldg JW GovCorruptionApril 27, 2007 From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton: Obama Brushes Off Relationship with Rezko in Presidential Debate Last night, eight candidates for the Democratic nomination for president took center stage in a debate televised on MSNBC. While the important topic of ethics was largely ignored, Barack

D.C. Police Documents Revealing Sanctuary Policies

You may remember that Judicial Watch recently filed an open records lawsuit against the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department [MPD] seeking information pertaining to the department's illegal immigration policies. Well, this week, we released the eye-opening documents we received in response.

Within days of the filing of our lawsuit, the Washington D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department released a memo from Charles H. Ramsey, who, until recently, served as Chief of Police. The memo includes some pretty shocking language.

In a memo brimming with hostility to federal immigration law, Ramsey writes: "MPD [Metropolitan Police Department] officers are strictly prohibited from making inquiries into citizenship or residency status for the purpose of determining whether an individual has violated the civil immigration laws or for the purpose of enforcing those laws…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." (The emphasis is in the original document.) Federal law requires otherwise. The documents show that DC’s corrupt former mayor, Marion Barry, helped promote a “don’t ask, don’t tell” immigration policy. (These days, Barry is facing jail time for yet another round of crimes.)

The newly released documents, available at www.judicialwatch.org, also emphatically state the "limited" and infrequent support the department begrudgingly offers to federal immigration officials.

Ramsey’s language is bold. But he may have been one-upped this week by his successor, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier, who reaffirmed her department’s illegal policy. When asked by WTOP News about the potential of litigation over their illegal immigration policy, Lanier’s response? “I think we’ve been sued a couple of times before.” How reassuring for Washington, D.C. taxpayers, who have suffered from a dysfunctional government and the attendant financial liabilities for decades. (You know, it occurs to me that if Washington, D.C. wants some of the benefits of statehood, as its liberal political class have been advocating for some time, it may want to begin by obeying federal law. Just a thought.)