{"id":23221,"date":"2025-03-07T19:50:53","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T02:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/denver-mayor-defends-immigration-policies-in-gop-sanctuary-cities-hearing\/"},"modified":"2025-03-08T02:50:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T02:50:53","slug":"denver-mayor-defends-immigration-policies-in-gop-sanctuary-cities-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/denver-mayor-defends-immigration-policies-in-gop-sanctuary-cities-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Denver mayor defends immigration policies in GOP \u2018sanctuary cities\u2019 hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Denver
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, second from left, testifies before the House Oversight Committee on March 5. (Screenshot from House Oversight Committee YouTube)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado\u2019s Republican members of Congress repeatedly spread false information about crime rates in Denver and Aurora as they lined up to question Denver Mayor Mike Johnston during a lengthy hearing Wednesday on so-called \u201csanctuary city\u201d policies on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

Johnston was one of four big-city mayors called to testify by Republicans on the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation of what U.S. Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican and the committee\u2019s chair, called \u201cmisguided and obstructionist policies\u201d that hinder enforcement of federal immigration laws.<\/p>\n

In a prepared statement, Johnston recounted the actions Denver took in response to the arrival of large numbers of migrants, many of them Venezuelans lawfully seeking asylum, in the city beginning in early 2023. More than 42,000 people arrived in the city over the next 18 months, in what is believed to be the largest per-capita influx of migrants of any city in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are each entitled to our own opinion about what should happen at the border, but that was not the question facing Denver,\u201d Johnston told lawmakers. \u201cThe question Denver faced was: What will you do with a mom and two kids dropped on the streets of our city with no warm clothes, no food and no place to stay?\u201d<\/p>\n

The city opened a number of emergency shelters that were gradually closed over the following two years as new arrivals applied for work authorizations and were connected to jobs and housing. The city spent a total of $79 million on these support services, but expenditures on such programs have since dropped by nearly 90%, Johnston said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDenver made a choice as a city \u2013 not to hate each other, but to help each other,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t perfect, and it required sacrifice from all of us, but in the end, Denver came out stronger and closer than we were before.\u201d<\/p>\n

All four of Colorado\u2019s Republican members of Congress \u2013 U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert of Windsor, Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton, Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs and Jeff Hurd of Grand Junction \u2013 took turns questioning Johnston Wednesday. Only Boebert is a permanent member of the Oversight Committee; Evans, Crank and Hurd were \u201cwaived on\u201d to the panel temporarily.<\/p>\n

Evans, a former police officer elected last year to represent Colorado\u2019s battleground 8th District, has embraced President Donald Trump\u2019s plans to carry out the mass deportation of more than 12 million people in the country unlawfully. Evans told Johnston that Denver\u2019s immigration policies are why the city is \u201ccratering in their public safety statistics.\u201d In a social media post, Evans called the mayor\u2019s assertion that crime rates in Denver are down \u201ccategorically false.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, Johnston\u2019s claims were accurate. Data from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, based on Denver Police Department statistics, show that the city\u2019s rates of violent and property crimes peaked in 2022, before large numbers of migrants began arriving in the area, and have declined since then.<\/p>\n

Boebert, meanwhile, acknowledged that crime rates were down in Denver but claimed they were up in the City of Aurora, because Denver was \u201cshipping\u201d new arrivals to its neighbor. Aurora has been singled out by Trump and other far-right opponents of immigration, who have made a series of false and exaggerated claims that the city has been \u201cinvaded and conquered\u201d by a Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.<\/p>\n

But Boebert\u2019s claim was also false. Consistent with trends in Denver, the state of Colorado and the U.S. as a whole, crime rates in Aurora have dropped since 2022 and continued their decline last year, according to Aurora Police Department statistics.<\/p>\n

Johnston testified alongside New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, was the lone witness invited to Thursday\u2019s panel by the Oversight Committee\u2019s Democratic minority. Bier pointed to \u201ca mountain of empirical research\u201d showing that immigrants, including immigrants in the country without authorization, commit crimes at a much lower rate than the native-born population.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Congress wants more cooperation, it should address the concerns of these cities,\u201d Bier said. \u201cWhat Congress should do is reestablish trust. (An) indiscriminate mass deportation agenda is a far greater threat to public safety than any city policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denver\u2019s policies<\/div>\n

There is no legal definition of what constitutes a \u201csanctuary\u201d jurisdiction. But many state and local governments across the country have adopted a variety of policies that limit coordination with federal immigration enforcement, citing the need to reduce strain on local law enforcement resources, and arguing that the trust established in immigrant communities by such policies better serves public safety goals.<\/p>\n

Colorado law prohibits local law enforcement from assisting federal agents in detaining people for civil immigration offenses \u2013 in other words, merely being in the country unlawfully \u2013 and from entering certain agreements to detain immigrants on behalf of the federal government. In 2017, Denver City Council members unanimously adopted a wide-ranging immigration ordinance that placed additional restrictions on cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, including barring them from secure areas in the city jail without a warrant.<\/p>\n

Johnston made headlines in November when he predicted that Trump\u2019s plans for mass deportations would lead to a \u201cTiananmen Square moment\u201d in Denver with police and citizens engaging in mass civil disobedience to halt federal operations. Though he soon walked those comments back, Johnston also said that he was \u201cnot afraid\u201d to go to jail for defying mass deportation efforts that were \u201cillegal or immoral.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several Republican members of Congress during Wednesday\u2019s hearing raised the possibility of criminal charges against Johnston and other \u201csanctuary city\u201d mayors.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of you said you were willing to go to jail,\u201d said Republican U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana. \u201cWe might give you that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the course of more than six hours of questioning, Johnston insisted that Denver\u2019s policies complied with all applicable state and federal laws. The city cooperates with ICE in certain circumstances, he noted, including by complying with detainer requests for individuals subject to a federal criminal warrant.<\/p>\n

Johnston faced questions about the recent release of a suspected Tren de Aragua member, Abraham Gonzalez, from a Denver jail. The Denver Sheriff Department notified ICE agents of Gonzalez\u2019s impending release, and six ICE agents were present to take him into custody in the jail\u2019s parking lot. Gonzalez assaulted the officers while being taken into custody, ICE\u2019s Denver field office said in a social media post earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you\u2019re putting police officers \u2013 who you\u2019re sworn to help protect as their mayor \u2013 at risk to score political points, and I think it\u2019s outrageous,\u201d Crank said. \u201cWill you change that, for the safety of your officers and those ICE agents?\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnston said it was the first such incident he was aware of out of more than 1,200 similar instances in which the city notified ICE of a suspect\u2019s release.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reached out to the ICE officers yesterday,\u201d he told Crank. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve asked to sit down with them to talk about this procedure and how we can align systems to make sure no other officers get injured.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Newsline, visit www.coloradonewsline.com.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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