D.C.’s interim U.S. attorney is “prioritizing” President Donald Trump’s executive order to make D.C. safe and beautiful by searching for migrants without legal status who are “burrowed” in the criminal justice system.
In a video posted to X, interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said she has investigators inside her office looking for migrants lacking permanent legal status.
“We are now trying to identify those illegals who are currently burrowed in our criminal justice system who’ve identified themselves either as citizens or individuals with actual legal status who do not have status or are illegal,” she said. “Previously, there was no questioning them and there was certainly no verification of that.”
Pirro said for too long the D.C. Council has worked “very hard” to make sure these individuals avoid any contact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Previously, no one even asked,” she said. “They would just literally go through the system and either be convicted or possibly got to jail or be found not guilty and be released.”
The D.C. code on cooperation with federal immigration agencies says absent a judicial warrant or court order, D.C. shall not “provide to a federal immigration agency an individual’s date and time of release, location, address, personal identifying information, medical information, photograph, or criminal case information.”
“I think they’re trying to circumvent a due process system that avails itself of everyone; it applies to everyone,” said defense attorney Todd Baldwin, who represents a group of 200 defense attorneys representing clients in D.C. Superior Court.
“I want to emphasize this: There’s a chilling effect to having ICE agents in the courthouse, and that applies not only to clients facing criminal charges but also to victims of crimes or witnesses to crimes,” Baldwin said. “They might be afraid to show up to court, and therefore I think it ultimately might have a negative effect on prosecutions because more cases will be dismissed.”
Baldwin said he and other defense attorneys have seen ICE agents working inside Superior Court in recent months.
“What this message sends is a message that do not come forward in crimes, do not be witnesses to crimes, because your immigration status may be at stake, and what that’s going to do is that our community is going to remain quiet and then everybody else is unsafe,” CARECEN Executive Director Abel Nunez told Telemundo 44.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson was unavailable to comment.
News4 requested an interview with Pirro but did not receive a response.
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