A congressional committee has requested Denver Mayor Mike Johnston to testify in Washington, D.C., subsequent month to defend the town’s insurance policies limiting native police cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
In a letter to Johnston on Monday, the U.S. Home’s Committee on Oversight and Authorities Reform recognized Denver as one in all 4 cities that “stand out of their abject failure to adjust to federal legislation,” together with Chicago, New York Metropolis and Boston. The panel despatched related letters to these cities’ mayors.
The committee is investigating such cities because the newly inaugurated President Donald Trump plans to crack down on unlawful immigration and perform mass deportations. He has additionally threatened to withhold federal {dollars} from cities that gained’t work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
“Denver is a sanctuary jurisdiction that refuses to completely cooperate with federal immigration enforcement,” in response to the letter, signed by committee chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky.
Denver has by no means adopted a coverage calling itself a “sanctuary metropolis,” however in 2016, Metropolis Council adopted a proclamation declaring the town “welcoming and inclusive of all folks.” Metropolis officers the subsequent yr adopted an ordinance that gives protections to immigrants, and it follows a coverage of not honoring detainer requests by ICE for inmates within the jail, besides as required by legislation.
Colorado state legislation additionally restricts native cooperation with ICE, with many sheriffs solely notifying ICE forward of focused inmates’ launch however not holding them longer.
The committee’s letter additionally references feedback Johnston made in November, together with that he was ready to go to jail to cease deportations of unlawful immigrants. And it requested “paperwork and data associated to the sanctuary insurance policies of Denver.”
“Essentially the most useful factor Congressional Republicans might do proper now could be repair our damaged immigration system,” Johnston mentioned by a spokesperson Monday night. “Whereas they work on that, we’ll give attention to operating the cities that handle the results of their failure to behave.”
The mayor will think about the request to testify over the approaching days, mentioned Jordan Fuja, his spokesperson.
The letter says the committee, partly, “is investigating sanctuary jurisdictions throughout the US and their affect on public security.”
“Along with the efforts of the Trump Administration to make sure federal immigration enforcement can proceed unimpeded,” the letter says, “Congress should decide whether or not additional laws is important to reinforce border safety and public security. It’s crucial that federal immigration legislation is enforced and that felony aliens are swiftly faraway from our communities.”
The committee invited Johnston to testify throughout a listening to set for Feb. 11. It requested metropolis paperwork and communications assembly sure standards going again to Jan. 1, 2024, concerning the town’s “sanctuary standing,” with these information as a result of committee by the day previous to the listening to.
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