Investigations into the actions of two Detroit police officers who were suspended for coordinating with federal immigration authorities, and who could be fired as a result, are expected to be completed within the next 21 days, according to a top DPD official.
Detroit Police Assistant Chief Charles Fitzgerald on Tuesday, Feb. 17, told the City Council that officers are not allowed to contact federal agencies over immigration enforcement after it was revealed that the two DPD officers broke the policy.
One incident occurred on Feb. 9 when an officer called Border Patrol requesting translation services, and the other on Dec. 16, 2025, which was discovered during a body-worn camera audit. Each of those cases resulted in the detention of the subjects by immigration authorities.
“We’re not in the immigration business at DPD. We never have been, we never will be,” Fitzgerald said while addressing the City Council, noting that the city of Detroit as well as the Detroit Police Department each have policies against bias-based policing.
“We have special orders that we do not — unless there is an absolute nexus to a violent crime — we are not in the immigration business,” he said, adding that DPD officers “shouldn’t care” about a person’s immigration status.
Fitzgerald said he could not detail much about the specific incidents involving the suspended officers due to the open investigation. However, he said, the DPD members “contacted a unit under the Office of Homeland Security … they said for language issues.”
“We don’t do that either. We have a number of DPD members that speak different languages,” Fitzgerald said. “We have a language line which we subscribe to … you can have someone interpret that way.”
Councilmember Denzel McCampbell asked Fitzgerald if any internal conversations have taken place to prevent officers from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement. McCampbell also asked if anyone would have been aware of the violations had the one DPD officer not been caught through a body camera audit and the other incident documented “after a Free Press reporter saw this interaction.”
Fitzgerald said DPD applauds the sergeant who caught the camera audit and revealed that the Feb. 9 incident, which the Free Press documented, was “caught that night by the command.” He added that DPD is “going over and above” to review its policies.
“We do one body worn camera review per day. … We’ve ramped that up; we’re going to increase those. We’re doing everything in our power to truly go back and audit, and hold folks accountable,” Fitzgerald said.
Councilmember Gabriela Santiago-Romero said she has been in touch with Mayor Mary Sheffield’s administration about setting up a hotline for residents to call and report DPD activity with immigration enforcement officials.
However, Fitzgerald said he is not yet aware of it.
“The hotline needs to be established as quickly as possible as we continue to make sure that we have policies that protect. We need to have accountability,” Santiago-Romero said.
City Council President Pro Tem Coleman Young II asked Fitzgerald to clarify whether federal immigration authorities “warn” DPD of enforcement actions they conduct, or whether the department shares any data with them. The assistant chief said they do not receive warnings, but there was an instance where federal agents took a person into custody and called DPD to check on the children who were home alone.
“In those situations, we do, we will check on those children, because it’s our duty now,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re not going to not do that when someone’s safety is involved.”
The City Council voted unanimously Feb. 17 to make public two separate confidential memos sent by its members to the Detroit Police Department and the city’s Law Department that, respectively, asked about DPD’s policy on cooperating with federal immigration enforcement officials and what policies the city can enact to protect residents.
Addressing the concerns in those memos, Corporation Counsel Conrad Mallett told the legislative body: “What is under control of the Detroit City Council, we can control. It would be unnecessary, but it would certainly be appropriate if the Detroit City Council were to say it is the job of the city employee to protect private spaces that are within public entities,” Mallett said.
For example, Mallett said ICE could enter public spaces, such as the lobby of city recreation centers, but if there is a private space within the building — like private offices or classrooms — they cannot enter. Council also could pass a resolution or ordinance banning federal agents associated with ICE activities from using city-owned vehicles, hardware or software, he added.
“You control the budget of the Detroit Police Department. You could dictate that their cars could not be used for support of ICE activities. (Assistant Chief) Fitzgerald has already said that that is the policy of the Detroit Police Department not to do that,” Mallett said.
Dana Afana is the Detroit city hall reporter for the Free Press. Contact: dafana@freepress.com. Follow her: @DanaAfana.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Fate of Detroit cops tied to immigration officials to be decided soon
Reporting by Dana Afana, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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