• The Justice Department agreed to pull its newly named D.C. “emergency police chief” and rewrite directives that scrapped District sanctuary limits on police–immigration cooperation.
• U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes warned the Home Rule Act doesn’t grant the White House blanket control over the entire Metropolitan
• The federal takeover—invoked by President Donald Trump—is slated to last 30 days as both sides return to court next week on immigration policy.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (TDR) — The Trump administration retreated on two fronts Friday after a rapid-fire hearing in D.C. federal court, agreeing to remove its handpicked emergency police chief and to rewrite a directive that would have ended the District’s sanctuary city rules limiting local cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The concessions came hours after the District sued Attorney General Pam Bondi and the administration, arguing the overnight orders were unlawful under the Home Rule Act.

The takeover fight and the law in play

At the center of the case is Section 740 of the 1973 law, which allows a president to request “such services” of MPD for up to 30 days—language the White House invoked to justify a federal police takeover amid what it called a crime emergency. Late Thursday, Bondi named Terry Cole—administrator of the DEA—as emergency chief as part of a sweep to tighten federal control over MPD and expand immigration coordination.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes signaled she would step in if necessary. “These are the kinds of issues that should be decided between the district and the government,” she said. “If I have to step in, I will.”

Judge Reyes draws a boundary

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Reyes emphasized that the statute doesn’t permit a blank check. “The president can make specific requests of MPD,” she said, but “cannot simply take over your police department wholesale.” In other words, the White House can ask MPD to do something, not order it to stop doing something across the board.

Sanctuary limits back in the spotlight

Bondi’s late-night directive would have required full MPD cooperation with ICE—from status checks during traffic stops to help with administrative immigration warrants—and lifted restrictions that barred arrests based solely on suspected civil violations. It also rescinded fresh guidance from Chief Pamela Smith that kept most local involvement limited to cases with a criminal nexus.

DOJ blinks on leadership

By day’s end, Yaakov Roth, principal deputy attorney general, told the court that Chief Smith would remain in command and that Cole would serve only as a liaison between the White House and MPD during the 30-day window. The Justice Department also agreed to rewrite the immigration directive and come back next week for arguments on the revised policy.

D.C.’s legal posture—and the stakes

Mitchell Reich, arguing for the D.C. attorney general’s office, urged Reyes to block full operational control and restore the District’s sanctuary limits, warning that the administration’s approach would “upend the command structure of MPD” and undermine community trust. The District’s complaint, filed under Home Rule protections, called the orders a recipe for “operational havoc”.

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Reyes pressed both sides on the scope of presidential power over D.C.. While acknowledging the statute’s “shall provide” wording binds Mayor Muriel Bowser to some requests, she flatly rejected the idea that the president can commandeer the entire department. “The statute would have no meaning at all,” she said, if the White House could put MPD at its “beck and call”.

Immigration fight tees up next

Both sides agreed to reconvene next week after DOJ issues new written policies. Until then, the federalization is capped at 30 days unless Congress intervenes—a limit Roth conceded in court. While Mr. Trump has mused about extending control beyond that period, Reyes stressed her job is to ensure any arrangement stays “within constitutional bounds.”

The episode lays bare a larger fight over local autonomy vs. federal authority in D.C. and revives a long-simmering political clash over sanctuary policies and policing—even as D.C. crime trends remain a contested data point in the broader debate over public safety.

Does Friday’s courtroom compromise mark a hard limit on the White House’s reach—or just a pause before the next escalation in D.C.’s policing and immigration fight?

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