DENVER — With President Donald Trump now in office, Denver is bracing for potential deportations of immigrants.
More than 40,000 immigrants have arrived in the city over the last two-and-a-half years. Many of them were sent on chartered buses to Denver by the governor of Texas.
Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said Tuesday he believes Trump’s mass deportation plan was designed to sow chaos and disrupt communities.
“This could be a very complicated and we think, heartbreaking situation,” Johnston said.
That’s why he has developed a plan to respond.
“We've been working on this since Election Day, so we knew as soon as the presidential election results were in that we were going to have to start preparing,” Johnston said. “Once Trump became the incoming president, we had to build a plan for what he had said he was intending to do on day one.”
The mayor told Denver7 his four-part plan ensures the city follows the law and upholds its values.
He said the city will cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal law enforcement when it comes to violent criminals.
Johnston said the city will provide basic information, such as when someone who ICE is interested in will be released from jail.
"They could pick him up at that time,” said Johnston. “But we don't honor detainers. We won't hold someone for ICE."
He said when it comes to non-violent immigrants, Denver police will only provide limited support to ICE and other federal law enforcement agencies.
According to the mayor’s plan, this support “will be determined on a case-by-case basis, but city police will only respond to requests to protect public safety and keep the peace.”
Johnston said this could mean DPD responding to a location to make sure protests don't get out of control.
He said DPD will not be involved in arresting non-criminal immigrants.
"That's not our job,” Johnston said. “Our officers have enough to do in the city. They don't need to be doing federal law enforcement's job on immigration."
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The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is getting rid of Biden-era policies that kept federal law enforcement from arresting immigrants near schools, churches, and hospitals.
“This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens—including murderers and rapists—who have illegally come into our country,” a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Johnston called the move immoral and said the city would oppose efforts to arrest people at those locations.
"There's been a long-held bipartisan practice that those spaces ought to be protected,” Johnston said. “So, I think we would push back, we would take them to court, we would look to get injunctions against that kind of practice."
The final part of the mayor's plan focuses on helping children whose parents are arrested, by making sure they have a safe place to go or are reunited with other family members.
"We're hoping that that doesn't come to pass, but we have to prepare for the worst-case scenario, which is kids and families will be separated. We will have kids without parents who need to find their way into foster care or to connected families or back to home countries, in some cases, home countries that won't take them back,” said Johnston.
Johnston said the city is prepared to partner with community groups to make sure immigrants understand their rights and know where to get resources and support.
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City leaders in Aurora declined to comment on their plan.
“The city, including the Aurora Police Department, focuses on enforcing state and local law and does not have a federal immigration function,” the city said in a statement. “As we always have, we will work with our federal partners and follow federal law and directives as they apply to our community. Until we have had the opportunity to carefully review any new or amended plans, it remains inappropriate for us to speculate on next steps.”
Gov. Jared Polis told Denver7 he would welcome help from the federal government when it comes to going after criminals.
“We want federal help in making Colorado safer, so we're excited by that. I hope that they follow through,” Polis said.
During his State of the State address, Polis said he would not support policies “to break up families, to create orphans of American children whose parents are alive and who came to this country to build a better life for their families.”
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