DEPORTATIONSDenver Will Stand in the Way of Mass Deportation

President-elect Donld Trump said he would launch mass deportation of undocumented migrants “on day one” of his presidency, accompanied by defunding sanctuary cities which resisted the policy.

For the city of Denver this would mean the loss of millions of federal dollars.

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said that Denver will not change its policies toward immigrants, regardless of federal pressure.

“The short answer is, we won’t change that, because those are one of our core values,” Johnston told The Denvertie in an interview on Friday. “And we’re not going to sell out those values to anyone. We’re not going to be bullied into changing them.”

The mayor said he was committed to protecting undocumented immigrants. “I think we are gonna continue to be a welcoming, open, big-hearted city that’s gonna stand by our values,” Johnston said.

Meanwhile, the city is identifying every federal grant that Trump could cut as a way to pressure sanctuary cities to help the federal government’s deportation effort.

Sanctuary cities allow undocumented migrants to use city services without the migrants having to worry about deportation.

Immigration status “shouldn’t discourage someone from taking their kid to get health care, taking their kid to go to school, or driving themselves to work,” Johnston said. 

The Denveritenotes that the Denver police will not inquire about the immigration status of a person committing minor offense — say, driving with a busted taillight, and that the city would hand over undocumented migrants who were caught committing low-level crimes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

Johnston noted, though, that people who commit felonies could still face immigration

A central element of Denver’s strategy has been to assist undocumented migrants through the work authorization system in order to allowing more new immigrants to work in the country legally. Trump plans to take away work authorization from people who illegally entered the country.

Johnston said that blocking new immigrants from the right to work would “cripple the American economy.” Moreover, without work authorization, people would have to rely on public support to get by, Johnston said.

Johnston told The Denverite that if Trump blocks people’s right to work, then Denver will explore the possibilities for creating both city and state work authorizations beyond the federal program, even though it is not clear whether such an approach is legally possible. 

“It’s far more expensive and far worse for our communities to have people out on the streets begging for money or looking for public support,” he said. “They’re hard working and they want to be able to pay for themselves.”

And what if the Trump administration asks the Denver police to participate in immigration enforcement? 

“Absolutely not,” Johnston said. “We won’t do it.” 

The majority of law enforcement in the United States is local, and Johnston is doubtful that federal forces would raid Colorado to round up immigrants.

“I do not believe that our governor is going to let them use our [Colorado] National Guard at the state level,” he said. “Unless they were planning on bringing national guards mobilized from Texas or Alabama to come invade Colorado, I don’t know where they would find the forces to begin to do that. 

“And that seems to me like a very, very bad idea from start to finish that no reasonable American would support,” he said.

Johnston said he was encouraged that the people of Denver — not only the city administration — would likely resist a mass deportation effort from federal forces. 

“More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston said. “It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”