Detroit council lifts privilege on memos, orders review after reports of DPD-ICE interactions

Council President James Tate presided over a packed public-comment period on Feb. 17 before the Detroit City Council voted to add and approve resolutions that remove attorney-client privilege from two legal memoranda concerning Detroit Police Department (DPD) interactions with federal immigration authorities.

The action followed sustained public comment and questions from council members about two recent incidents in which DPD officers contacted a unit under the federal Department of Homeland Security. Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald told the chamber: "We're not in the immigration business at DPD. We never have, never will." Fitzgerald said both incidents are the subject of command-level investigations and expected to be completed within 21 days.

Council Member Gabriela Santiago Romero moved to add the law department and Legislative Policy Division memoranda to new business and to lift privilege so the documents could be discussed publicly. The motions passed without objection. The memoranda, described by Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett as assessments of what the Council can and cannot legislate, examine the city's legal authority to limit federal agents and DPD collaboration on city property.

Santiago Romero said the public deserves clarity on what the city can do and urged rapid establishment of accountability mechanisms, including a hotline to report suspected DPD–ICE collaboration. "We need to be creative," she said, stressing the difference between political statements and enforceable policy.

Corporation Counsel Mallett told council the legislative body's powers are limited to controlling city employees and city-owned property, and suggested a range of options — from clarifying private-space protections to restricting use of city vehicles and data for federal enforcement. He emphasized that several federal task forces that DPD participates in are focused on violent crime, gangs and fugitive apprehension, not immigration enforcement.

The council asked administration staff to circulate the released memoranda and indicated plans to draft follow-up resolutions and oversight steps. Council members pressed DPD leaders about internal training, body-camera audits and duty-status changes for involved officers.

What happens next: The investigations into the two incidents will proceed through DPD disciplinary channels; Council asked the administration to return with proposed accountability measures and a plan to make the released memoranda available to the public.