Washington — Denver Mayor Mike Johnston stood his ground against attacks from Colorado Republican members of Congress as they falsely correlated immigration with alleged increases in crime.
Denver was targeted in the U.S. House Oversight Committee Hearing, titled “Hearing with Sanctuary City Mayors,” on Wednesday, even though “sanctuary city” is not an official legal term. Johnston’s request for testimony by the committee referenced a Colorado state law that prohibits law enforcement officials from jailing or detaining someone based on their immigration status.
David Bier, Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, held up a “mountain” of immigration research and slammed it on the hearing desk.
“Reasonable restrictions on ICE cooperation do not increase crime rates and immigrants lower crime rates,” Bier said.
U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO), as previewed in the GOP leadership press conference on Tuesday, questioned Johnston by listing crime rate facts that do not correlate with immigration.
“I think you may have some bad facts,” Johnston replied to Evans. “I’m happy to clarify them for you. In terms of what’s happening in Denver right now, we know crime is down in Denver from last year.”
Delanie Bomar, an Evans spokesperson, said in a statement that data and other substantiation is available to back up the facts presented by Evans.
Johnston and U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank (R-CO) also got into a heated exchange over an isolated incident. Denver Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was unable to detain Abraham Gonzales, who was released from Denver County jail. Johnston told Crank Denver coordinated pickups with ICE 1,226 times.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been aware of there being an incident, which is why I reached out to ICE yesterday,” Johnston said.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) called for Johnston to ask Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, to repeal laws that limit coordination between local law enforcement and ICE. But Johnston defended the laws, saying Denver only honors ICE detainers if there is a warrant.
“We do coordinate on multiple things with ICE,” Johnston said during the hearing. “For instance, if there is a violent criminal warrant in the city, we know that.”
Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) said Denver is a “sanctuary city” due to another Colorado law that city or county jails cannot be used to detain immigrants. Johnston said “many folks use that term differently,” but Comer “took that as a yes.” Comer threatened “sanctuary city” mayors and said federal funding can be stripped.
“President Trump and his administration are taking action against sanctuary cities, and Congress must follow not by allowing a single penny of federal funding to go to cities and states that prioritize criminal aliens over the American people,” Comer said during the hearing.
Johnston said it would be detrimental to public safety in Denver if federal funding were pulled.
On Tuesday, thousands of individuals, including Colorado immigrant rights organizations, delivered Johnston a petition to show support for welcoming immigrants in Denver. This includes policies that separate local law enforcement from ICE.
Gladis Ibarra, co-executive director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition said Denverites should live with “dignity and safety,” no matter where they are born.
“The federal government has no right to force our city to invest in ripping Denver families apart,” Ibarra said in a written statement.
UPDATE 3/3/25: A statement by Evans’ spokesperson was added.
