Source: Office of United States Attorneys
DETROIT – United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced her resignation today, effective January 19, 2025.
“Capping my years-long public service to the Eastern District of Michigan as the United States Attorney will forever serve as the crowning point of my career,” said U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison. “I want to express my sincere appreciation to President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland for the opportunity to lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office in this District. I am also extremely grateful for the confidence U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters had in me to carry out this charge. With the extraordinary talent at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, I am extremely proud of all that we have accomplished to reduce violent crime, empower communities through transparency and engagement, and protect the civil rights of all within our borders. We have collaborated with purpose, used innovative and evidence-based strategies to operate under the principles of focus, balance, and fairness in our work, and effectively included community stakeholders as partners in our efforts. It is through this shared responsibility for safety that we have accomplished so much. And so it is my hope as I prepare to leave this office, that this work—this partnership—will continue.”
Ms. Ison was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden on November 12, 2021, and confirmed by the Senate on December 14, 2021. She was sworn in as the chief federal law enforcement officer for the Eastern District of Michigan on December 21, 2021.
Under Ms. Ison’s leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan worked to rebuild community trust in law enforcement, restructure the office’s approach to violent crime, and reinvigorate the office’s civil rights practice.
Rebuilding Community Trust
Under Ms. Ison’s leadership the office engaged in outreach to communities across the District. This community engagement included communities at risk of discrimination or hate crimes, communities experiencing disproportionate rates of violence, and returning citizens. That engagement also included transparency about the office’s work and enforcement efforts, educational programming, prevention efforts, and listening sessions to understand the specific concerns and needs of the various diverse communities within the District.
“I sincerely hope that any legacy I leave includes empowering communities to know that they deserve to live in peaceful neighborhoods, free of violence, hate, and other threats and that they are partners in this effort to achieve public safety for all,” stated U.S. Attorney Ison.
Restructuring Approach to Violent Crime
Ms. Ison prioritized lowering the rate of violent crime in the district which resulted in a restructuring of the office’s approach to violent crime. In 2023, the office formalized its violence reduction strategy: One Eastern District of Michigan or One EDMI. The initiative is designed to identify evidence-based strategies that have proven effective in reducing violent crime and bringing together a coalition of community, government, and law enforcement stakeholders to implement those strategies. One EDMI is a vision for the District that aims to empower local communities to use those tools they believe will be the most effective in their area, rather than apply the same practices to every situation or location.
Under Ms. Ison’s leadership, and as a part of the One EDMI partnership, the office relied on evidence-based strategies and partnered with stakeholders in the community, government, and law enforcement to lower the rate of violent crime. As a result, Assistant United States Attorneys were able to focus their efforts on the true drivers of violence–the people, groups, and places most likely to be engaged in violent crime. The office’s efforts coalesced around three principles: focus, balance, and fairness, with the goal of balancing law enforcement strategies with prevention and outreach to deter future violence. The office also committed to being transparent about its work and its outcomes so that the community would commit to this effort with a renewed confidence in the fairness of our approach.
In April 2023, the office announced the creation of the first One EDMI subgroup, One Detroit. The United States Attorney’s Office joined with a broad coalition of law enforcement, government, community, and faith partners to create One Detroit. The One Detroit partners committed to reducing violence while fostering legitimacy through engagement, coordination, and action.
In addition to revamping the enforcement strategy, Ms. Ison and the One Detroit partners focused on crime prevention. One Detroit’s prevention efforts brought Peacenics to Detroit’s 8th and 9th Precincts over the last three summers. The Peacenics are a collective gathering of the community and law enforcement coming together in the name of peace and where residents can have fun, engage with law enforcement, and obtain resources to improve the quality of their lives. The Peacenics featured vendors offering a variety of resources including job training, literacy programs, mental health and medical screenings, utility assistance, educational and vocational opportunities, tutorial and career development programs, expungement assistance, and more.
One Detroit’s reentry pillar focused on engaging with justice-impacted residents through community roundtables. The roundtables are made up of people who are currently on federal supervised release or state court probation who have been identified by the United States Probation Department and the Michigan Department of Corrections as being at moderate or severe risk of committing violent crimes. More than 200 justice-impacted residents have been served through the community roundtables so far.
One Detroit’s efforts have been successful. Violent crime in Detroit has plummeted to historic lows. Detroit ended 2024 with 203 criminal homicides, a 19% drop from 2023, and the fewest number of homicides since 1965. As a result, the One Detroit Violence Reduction Partnership was recognized as a national model by the Department of Justice.
The U.S. Attorney’s office has implemented elements of the violence reduction strategy across the Eastern District of Michigan, focusing its enforcement efforts on the drivers of violence. Those efforts have resulted in significant reductions in violent crime in Jackson and Pontiac. The prevention and reentry strategies have also been deployed elsewhere in the Eastern District of Michigan as Flint hosted its first community roundtable for justice-impacted residents in November 2024.
Protecting Civil Rights
Protecting civil rights has long been a top priority for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan and the Department of Justice. Similarly, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan has a long history of engaging in robust civil rights enforcement efforts. But under Ms. Ison’s leadership, the office redoubled its efforts. In addition to the office’s Civil Rights Unit, which is responsible for pursing civil enforcement actions, she formed the new Public Corruption and Civil Rights Unit to emphasize our commitment to prosecuting criminal civil rights cases. Ms. Ison paired these vigorous prosecutions with robust community engagement. During Ms. Ison’s tenure, the United States Attorney’s office has trained more than 800 community members how to identify, report, and help prevent hate crimes in 10 events across the District as part of DOJ’s United Against Hate Initiative. The U.S. Attorney’s Office has also handled several significant civil rights matters under the leadership of U.S. Attorney Ison. Those matters include:
Prosecuting Traditional Federal Crimes
Under Ms. Ison’s leadership, the office also focused on rooting out public corruption, combatting white collar crime, including pandemic-related fraud, and protecting the District’s citizens. Significant accomplishments in those areas include:
- The Mayor of Inkster was indicted and later pleaded guilty to bribery charges.
- The Mayor of Taylor was sentenced to nearly 6 years in prison for conspiracy to receive bribes and wire fraud.
- The President of the Madison Heights School Board pleaded guilty to bribery and tax evasion charges and was sentenced to almost 4 years in prison.
- A guilty plea to wire fraud and money laundering charges from the former Chief Financial Officer of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy for embezzling more than $40 million from the nonprofit. The plea also included a restitution agreement requiring him to pay no less than $44.3 million in restitution because of his conduct.
- The office has charged 127 individuals with participating in pandemic fraud schemes, ranging from unemployment insurance fraud conspiracies to fraud in pandemic loan programs. Of the individuals charged in such cases, the United States has thus far obtained more than 81 convictions.
- FCA US LLC (now known as Stellantis) paid a $300 million fine after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States as part of a scheme to cheat U.S. regulators and customers by making false and misleading representations about its emissions control systems on diesel vehicles.
- A conviction at trial against an ISIS fighter who left his home in Michigan and travelled to Yemen and Syria where he obtained ISIS training and spent more than 2 years as an ISIS soldier.
- The U.S. Attorney’s Office under Ms. Ison’s leadership has also protected the federal treasury by successfully defending lawsuits brought against the United States and collecting dollars that were owed to the United States. The office has collected more than $400 million in criminal and civil actions in judgments, fines, restitution, and forfeiture. These funds were returned to victims and taxpayers and represent more than four times the office’s operating budget over the last three years.
Ms. Ison became U.S. Attorney after serving as an Assistant United States Attorney for 19 years. In addition to being United States Attorney, Ms. Ison also served on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, advising the Attorney General on policy, procedure, and management impacting U.S. Attorney’s Offices.
Prior to becoming United States Attorney, Ms. Ison served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Public Corruption Unit, the Drug Task Force, and the General Crimes Units. She also served for four years as the Chief of the Drug Task Force. Prior to her government service, Ms. Ison spent twelve years in private practice as criminal defense attorney. U.S. Attorney Ison has not announced her future plans.
Under the Vacancies Reform Act, First Assistant United States Attorney, Julie A. Beck will become the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan until a successor for U.S. Attorney Ison is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office is charged with enforcing federal criminal laws, protecting civil rights, and representing the federal government in civil litigation in 34 counties in the Eastern District of Michigan. The Office currently has approximately 120 Assistant U.S. Attorneys and approximately 90 staff members at offices in Detroit, Flint, and Bay City.