Boebert claims Johnston proved Denver is a ‘sanctuary' city; advocates voice support of such policies

Yahoo

06-03-2025

DENVER (KDVR) — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston was one of four city leaders from what Congressional Republicans called 'sanctuary cities' grilled in front of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday.
Johnston was questioned alongside the mayors of Boston, Chicago and New York City, all of which have been dubbed 'sanctuary cities.'
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Sanctuary cities are jurisdictions that have announced limits on how much they will cooperate with federal agencies' efforts to deport undocumented immigrants. Some cities take it one step further and solidify the designation through an ordinance, but Denver has not.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, a member of the oversight committee, spoke with Nexstar on Wednesday after Johnston took the stand.
'Well, I think Mayor Mike Johnston really proved that Denver is a sanctuary city. My main goal and objective was proving that we have sanctuary policies both at a state level, and then even Denver, city ordinances, that do make it impossible for ICE agents to coordinate with local law enforcement agents,' Boebert said.
Nayda Benitez, of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, told FOX31's Kasia Kerridge they are frustrated by the need for the four mayors to testify at all.
'To us, this is, you know, just the latest attack against places, communities, cities across the U.S. that have been champions for immigrant rights. It seems to us that it was really just political theater,' Benitez said.
Boebert seemed skeptical that Johnston supports coordination and communication between city employees and federal agents when an immigration detainer or warrant has been issued.
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'We have seen case after case in Colorado where a migrant was detained and then released because there was not a federal warrant and even knowing that these individuals were in the country illegally, they were unable to coordinate with ICE to actually get their removal from our country and unfortunately they went on to commit even worse crimes in our state,' Boebert said.
Undocumented or improper entry into the U.S. is a civil infraction and does not carry a criminal penalty.
Benitez mostly applauded Johnston for his testimony, but worried about some of the nuance in his statements.
'We do appreciate the mayor trying to hold the line and stand in support of immigrant communities,' Benitez said. 'We do wonder and question what he meant by implying that he would support federal agents when it came to immigrants that are criminals. What does that mean exactly?'
Boebert also noted that Johnston isn't 'exactly wrong in saying that crime is down in Denver.' She said he didn't provide enough context for the situation, saying the 42,000 immigrants who came or were bused to Denver were then instructed on 'how to get out and even give them the same day shipping and move them to places like Utah or Aurora or even New York.'
She said that Mayor Eric Adams, of NYC, confirmed there was coordination between Colorado and New York to move immigrants eastward.
'And then we have the governor of Utah who is on the record saying that Mayor Mike Johnston was busing illegals in to Utah and of course, we have seen them being shipped into cities like Aurora as well and you even have the mayor of Aurora on record and councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky saying that this is absolutely happening,' Boebert said.
In October, the Aurora City Council voted to investigate whether Denver, the state of Colorado and nonprofits had moved immigrants into Aurora.
She said that lower crime in Denver comes at the cost of increasing crime 'in other places,' and said he's moving immigrations from his city at the taxpayers' expense.
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'I'm sure anyone who is here in the country illegally is afraid to coordinating, cooperate with law enforcement because they are already breaking the law,' the representative asserted. 'They are here illegally and that does not prevent, however, law enforcement from coordinating with federal ICE agents, Denver's ordinance does. Colorado state law absolutely prevents that coordination from taking place.'
Benitez said fear is prevalent among Colorado's immigrant population.
'There is a lot of fear, a lot of terror, that uncertainty is palpable among the immigrant community right now,' Benitez said. 'Yesterday, our coalition and some of our members, we hand-delivered a community petition to the Denver Mayor's office yesterday afternoon ahead of the hearing today calling essentially on him to stand by Denver's welcoming city policies and to enforce them, or help those policies remain in place.'
Boebert said that Johnston could have joined her Wednesday 'in demanding that Colorado's state laws that he blames for having illegal aliens in such mass numbers in Denver, and using so many tax dollars … He could have joined me in saying, 'get rid of this,' and he refused to.'
'He's had 600 days to repeal or have the city council vote to repeal the ordinance that says city employees of Denver will be fired if they communicate with federal law enforcement officers,' Boebert asserted. 'He's done neither.'
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