Watch: Denver mayor, other big-city mayors questioned over sanctuary city policies in D.C.

Mayor Mike Johnston, called before a congressional committee Wednesday to answer for Denver’s status as a so-called sanctuary city, said that providing refuge for the tens of thousands of migrants who arrived in Denver was both a requirement of his job and a moral obligation.

“We are each entitled to our own opinion about what should happen at the border,” Johnston said in his opening remarks to the Republican-controlled committee. “But that was not the question facing Denver. The question Denver faced is: 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?” 

Johnston, ordered to testify before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform along with the mayors of Boston, Chicago and New York, quoted from the Bible as he spoke to the panel. 

“As mayor I have to protect the health and safety of everyone in our city. As a man of faith I have a moral obligation to care for those in need,” he said. “As scripture says, ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, you gave me something to eat. I was a stranger and you invited me in.’ So that’s what we did.” 

About 42,000 migrants, mostly from South America, arrived in Denver over an 18-month period beginning in December 2022. At the height of the migration, 10 or 11 buses were arriving per day, each carrying 300 people, many of them women and children in T-shirts and sandals in the middle of winter, Johnston said. 

Denver set up eight city-funded shelters, which are now closed, and helped 8,700 people apply for work authorization. 

“When buses started showing up filled with migrants some in my city were afraid, just like I’m sure some of your constituents are afraid,” Johnston said. “They were afraid about crime and homelessness and worried about what these new people might take away from them. I understand that fear. The truth is people who are new to this country do good and bad just like all of us.

“When those buses kept on coming, Denver made a choice as a city, not to hate each other, but to help each other.” 

The committee hearing is expected to last a few hours, with Johnston and the other mayors expected to answer questions from members of congress. U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert is on the committee, and three other Colorado Republicans — Reps. Jeff Crank, Jeff Hurd and Gabe Evans — asked to take part in the hearing so they could ask questions. 

The hearing could have big implications for Denver and the other cities, as members of Congress have called for ending federal funding to cities that do not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In Colorado, it’s against state law for local law enforcement to hold immigrants in jail for the purpose of waiting for ICE to pick them up. 

Boebert, limited to five minutes like the rest of the panel, peppered Johnston with questions and wanted “yes” or “no” answers. When he tried to speak longer, she cut him off. 

Boebert questioned why the mayor hired a lawyer “to help cover your ass for Denver’s sanctuary city policies for this hearing” and said she has documentation “that proves you were shipping illegal aliens to Aurora, their crime was increasing while you were hiding under laws that you will not demand be repealed.”

She asked about a 2017 city ordinance, called the Public Safety Enforcement Priorities Act, that prohibits city employees from asking about someone’s immigration status or reporting it to federal immigration authorities. 

“Would a city employee be fired for communicating, coordinating, talking with an agent from the EPA?” asked Boebert, whose district includes Douglas County, Loveland and the rural Eastern Plains. 

“What about Health and Human Services?”

“So they would only be fired for talking to federal law enforcement officers?”

Johnston countered that Denver does cooperate with federal authorities, including by notifying ICE when someone in the local jail is wanted on an immigration detainer. Local authorities tell immigration agents when that person will be released, but they will not hold the person longer.

Denver has made such notifications to ICE 1,226 times in the past seven years, the mayor said. 

Johnston also faced a round of tough questions from U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio, who asked the Denver mayor about an ICE arrest last week of an immigrant charged with aggravated assault and held in jail for about a year. Jordan said Denver authorities gave ICE only about an hour’s notice before they released Abraham Gonzalez, who was picked up in the jail parking lot Friday after being chased by multiple federal officers. 

A Denver Department of Public safety video shows ICE officers tackling Gonzalez, a situation that the Ohio congressman said was made dangerous because of Denver’s refusal to keep Gonzalez in custody. Jordan said an ICE officer was assaulted and tasers were used during the arrest. 

“Why not give them more of a heads up?” Jordan asked. “Why not release him to ICE.”

Johnston said he had reviewed the video and offered to meet with ICE about procedures the city could change.

Johnston was notified in a Jan. 27 letter that the committee was “investigating sanctuary jurisdictions” across the country and “their impact on public safety and the effectiveness of federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws of the United States.” 

“Denver is a sanctuary jurisdiction under Colorado law, and Mayor Mike Johnston confirmed that he was prepared to go to jail to protect illegal aliens from federal immigration authorities,” the letter said, citing a Fox News story that quoted Johnston about how the city would try to prevent a mass deportation.

U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican and committee chairman, referenced Johnston’s jail comment in fiery remarks about the dangers of illegal immigration. 

“One of you said you were willing to go to jail,” he said. “We might give you that opportunity.” 

This is a developing story that will be updated.