FBI Considering Investigation Of Anti-Immigrant Fliers in D.C.

   The FBI is being asked to figure out who disseminated fake fliers recently that warned Washington, D.C. residents against helping illegal immigrants.

   The fliers claimed to be from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agency denies being associated with the fliers, which were placed on lamp posts and windshields of automobiles last week.

   The fliers urge residents to report illegal immigrants to ICE. They also say Washington’s sanctuary city policy violates federal law.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), Washington’s nonvoting delegate to Congress, said in a letter to the FBI director that the fliers broke two laws.

   One of the laws forbids people from falsely representing themselves as federal law enforcement officers, Norton said. The other law makes it illegal to forge the seal of a federal agency.

   “The fake fliers were clearly designed to convey the impression of authenticity, and I believe they were posted in order to target and intimidate immigrants and their families living in the District,” Norton wrote in her letter to the FBI.

   FBI officials said they would review Norton’s letter but they would not commit to a formal investigation.

   The fliers bear the seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and headlines that say, “SANCTUARY CITY NEIGHBORHOOD PUBLIC NOTICE.”

   D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) denounced the fliers in a Twitter message that said, “DC is a sanctuary city. Clearly the flyer is meant to scare and divide our residents. We won't stand for it. #DCValues.”

   The mayor asked police and the Department of Public Works to remove the fliers, which were placed mostly in the Southwest part of the city.

   Sanctuary cities refer to cities that limit their cooperation with the federal government in enforcing immigration laws.

   President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January barring federal funds for sanctuary cities. A federal judge in San Francisco blocked the order in April.

   For more information, contact The Legal Forum (www.legal-forum.net) at email: [email protected] or phone: 202-479-7240.