Denver's Sanctuary City Policies Under Federal Scrutiny

In May, four sanctuary city mayors testified before the U.S. House Committee on Government and Reform. The four---Denver’s Mike Johnston, Chicago’s Brandon Johnson, Boston’s Michelle Wu, and New York’s Eric Adams---were a true rogues gallery of double-dealing officials who gave lip service to supporting federal immigration law. Immediately upon returning to their cities, the mayors picked up where they left off---aiding and abetting illegal aliens, a federal felony.

The mayors received costly legal coaching that will add to the already-substantial cost that providing hotel accommodation, housing assistance, transportation, translation services, meals, public education, childcare and other amenities made available to illegal aliens. In Denver, for example, since December 2022, about 45,000 illegal aliens arrived. The Commonsense Institute estimates Denver along with regional education and healthcare organizations have spent an estimated $356 million in response to the illegal alien influx, or roughly $7,900 per migrant, about twice the amount originally projected or 8% of Denver’s 2025 $4.4 billion budget.

In February, Denver entered into an agreement with the Washington D.C. law firm Covington and Burling, LLP, to represent the city in the congressional inquiry. Under the one-year contract with a maximum $2 million cap, the city will pay lawyers a "discounted" rate of $1,000 per hour. Denver recently received its first bill, $250,000.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in federal court, alleging that Colorado and Denver’s sanctuary policies have interfered with federal immigration enforcement and violated the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Along with Johnston, the lawsuit named Colorado Gov. Jared Polis whose congressional voting immigration enforcement voting record when he was a U.S. Representative was 3%, the Denver City Council, the Denver Sheriff Department and Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins as defendants. Responding to the DOJ lawsuit, Johnston disingenuously said, “Denver follows all laws — local, state and federal — and stands ready to defend its values.” Denver misguidedly follows the three laws that illegally protects unlawfully present aliens. But it does not obey federal immigration laws or the Supremacy Clause.

Colorado’s three anti-immigration enforcement laws are:

*Signed by Democratic Governor Jared Polis in 2019, HB19-1114, an act to "Protect Colorado Residents From Federal Government Overreach," that effectively prevents local law enforcement from carrying out arrests on behalf of ICE.

*SB21-131, "Protect Personal Identifying Information Kept by State"

*HB23-1100, "Restrict Government Involvement in Immigration Detention"

The Supremacy Clause as defined by the Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute: “Established under Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the U.S. Constitution, the Supremacy Clause refers to the foundational principle that, in general, federal law takes precedence over any conflicting state law.” Polis, Johnston and Colorado have met their match.

DOJ’s inclusion of the Denver City Council is timely. In December 2024, a Denver grand jury indicted 17 defendants in connection with a major auto theft ring and drug smuggling operation linked to the Sinaloa Drug Cartel.

The indictment contains 222 charges, including more than 100 counts of auto theft, more than a dozen counts of drug possession and distribution, and multiple counts of identity theft, theft, criminal possession of identification documents, and criminal possession of financial devices.

Between September 2022 and February 2024, the defendants stole at least 190 vehicles, mostly from the Denver International Airport that resulted in $9.5 million loss. The stolen vehicles were typically high-end pickup trucks, which were then driven to Mexico and given to cartel members in exchange drugs like cocaine, fentanyl and methamphetamine. Those drugs were then imported to the U.S. and brought to Denver.

To end the car theft crime ring, Denver contracted with Flock Safety to install camera license plate recognition which also helped identify hit-and-run criminals. The Flock system resulted in the recovery of 170 stolen cars and led to 300 arrests. But the City Council realized that Flock could help Immigration and Enforcement identify illegal aliens. The City Council, by unanimous vote, did not renew its $666 million contract with Flock.

Said Mayor Johnston, “because today’s environment [immigration enforcement] is much different than when the pilot began in early 2024, and there are new community concerns surrounding this technology.”

The Sinaloa Cartel must be delighted with Denver’s City Council and its illegal immigration advocating Mayor Johnston. Automobile owners and parents who want to protect their children from the deadly fentanyl scourge are disgusted with their cowardly officials. As long as the sanctuary mayors can continue with business as usual and without consequences from DOJ, communities will be at risk.

Joe Guzzardi is an Institute for Sound Public Policy analyst. Contact him at jguzzardi@ifspp.org