DENVER (KDVR) — Congressional leaders are calling upon Denver's mayor to testify at an oversight hearing for the city's alleged refusal to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement and U.S. immigration law.
The U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced Monday it is investigating sanctuary jurisdictions in America and the jurisdictions' impact "on public safety and the effectiveness of federal efforts to enforce the immigration laws of the United States," according to a letter from the committee sent to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. The committee is also calling upon mayors of NYC, Chicago and Boston to testify on the same matter.
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.
"These jurisdictions take it upon themselves to decide what laws they will and will not abide by all for the purpose of shielding removable aliens, especially criminals, from federal law enforcement," the letter sent to Johnston states.
2019 law cited as making Denver a sanctuary city
The Oversight Committee's letter said Denver is considered a sanctuary city under Colorado law, referencing a 2019 measure signed into law called "Protect Colorado Residents From Federal Government Overreach," and because Johnston "confirmed that he was prepared to go to jail to protect illegal aliens from federal immigration authorities."
Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, announced the investigation on X.
"On his first day in office, President Donald Trump took decisive actions to restore the rule of law. It is now imperative that our immigration laws are enforced across the country and that criminal aliens are swiftly removed from our communities," Comer wrote.
Last week, Johnston said in a statement that, among other things, Denver will cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in cases of violent criminals. The city will also notify ICE of a pending release if the federal agency requests that notification.
However, Johnston said Denver will not aid ICE agents in "a mass deportation sting that drives terror into the hearts of Colorado immigrants regardless of their legal status." He said because of this, Denver police officers will not detain people for ICE, and will not support non-criminal immigration enforcement actions.
Johnston's office issued a statement about the request for his testimony to FOX31 on Monday evening.
Governor, lawmakers ‘welcome’ DEA raid with 41 detained by ICE in Adams County“The most helpful thing Congressional Republicans could do right now is fix our broken immigration system. While they work on that, we will focus on running the cities that manage the consequences of their failure to act," a Mayor's Office spokesperson said.
Johnston told FOX31 earlier this month that local officers cannot honor ICE immigration detainers.
"The whole state is bound by our state law in this, which is pretty consistent in some of these practices like everywhere in the state, we don't honor ICE detainers," Johnston told FOX31's Kasia Kerridge. "If ICE calls and says, 'Will you hold someone for three more days?' That doesn't happen in Douglas County or Yuma or in Denver. A lot of these practices are similar statewide, but we think ours finds a common-sense balance of making sure we're not having our local police doing federal law enforcement, that's not our job, we're not going to do ICE's job for them. But, if they call for information on folks we have in custody, we'll let them know when we're releasing them."
Rep. Lauren Boebert is the lone Colorado representative member of the committee. The hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11 at 10 a.m. ET.
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