Free Republic

Denver Public Schools has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over a policy allowing ICE immigration agents to enter schools. The federal lawsuit claims that the policy has caused attendance to plummet due to the amount of illegal aliens in the district. “DPS is hindered in fulfilling its mission of providing education and life services to the students who are refraining from attending DPS schools for fear of immigration enforcement actions occurring on DPS school grounds,” the lawsuit states, according to a report from ABC News. “Parents across Denver enroll their...

During an interview with Denver’s 9NEWS on Monday, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston stated that the city will cooperate with ICE on violent criminals and has and that all the requests for notification from ICE have usually been for violent criminals, but “If we see a dramatic expansion in the number of requests that come from this administration, versus the last, then we could re-evaluate. But right now, we honor those requests that come in because those requests almost always focus on violent criminals.” Johnston began by saying, “We will partner on violent criminals, as we have always done. In the...

'It gives Johnston cover, should it become public.' Mike Coffman (R), the mayor of Aurora, Colorado, accused Denver Mayor Mike Johnston (D) of facilitating a covert migrant relocation scheme that led to a severe increase in gang activity in Aurora. In a Monday op-ed for the Denver Gazette, Coffman blamed Johnston for the ongoing immigration and gang crisis, claiming he partnered with two non-governmental organizations to move foreign nationals from Denver, a sanctuary city, to other neighboring towns. Coffman, who has come under fire for his role in allowing illegal aliens to settle in Aurora, defended his decision in November...

Spending on migrants in Denver has ballooned to an estimated $356 million, an updated analysis by the Common Sense Institute says. The estimate, which amounts to $7,900 per foreign national in the city, includes spending from the city, schools, and health care systems. Denver has seen an influx of almost 43,000 migrants since 2022. The city has received significant federal funding for migrant response. ... from May, the city received federal funding for migrant response from the Head Start Program ($13 million), Federal Emergency Management Agency ($8.6 million), U.S. Department of Local Affairs ($1.5 million), and the National Board for...

The Venezuelan prison gang known as Tren de Aragua (TdA) eyed Denver as its headquarters in the U.S., according to internal communications within the Aurora Police Department. The internal communications were citing federal intelligence reports. “Intelligence from ICE is that TdA has decided to make Denver their headquarters in the U.S. and will be violent toward anyone who encroaches on their territory,” one police bulletin from October 2023 said. The reason? Denver’s status as a sanctuary city. In response to questions from The Denver Gazette, the Denver Police Department said it was aware of a tip regarding the “possibility” of...

Denver intends to defund its police force and fire department in order to better support those illegally entering the U.S. through a program that provides a monthly debit card based on family size, free housing, “access to language instruction, career pathway explorations, industry-recognized credential training, and work-based learning opportunities.”

During a portion of an interview with CNBC that was recorded in February and aired on Thursday’s “Cities of Success,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston responded to a question on if the city was too open to migrants and too generous by stating that “it’s a balance. We want to be a welcoming city” but doing that without federal help “requires shared sacrifice, it requires compromise. So, we are both making cuts to city budgets to meet this financial need, and we are making cuts to the amount of services we can provide to the migrants that arrive and to the...