After drawing national attention by suggesting he would mobilize Denver police to stop mass deportations, Mayor Mike Johnston will travel to Washington, D.C., this week to defend the city’s migrant-friendly immigration policies to members of Congress.
Johnston is set to appear before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Wednesday morning alongside mayors from New York City, Chicago and Boston.
The majority-Republican committee is preparing to press the cities’ mayors on their lack of cooperation with the federal government’s ongoing deportation efforts while threatening financial repercussions if they don’t yield. Colorado U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert and Gabe Evans, both Republicans who have publicly taken Denver to task for its immigrant-friendly policies, will have the opportunity to zero in on Johnston while he’s under oath.
Johnston’s testimony could have major implications for the city as new President Donald Trump and Republicans threaten to withhold federal dollars from cities that won’t work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. In Denver, that could mean losing millions of dollars for city projects and programs.
City officials are also hoping to avoid a legal battle with the federal government over the policies. The Department of Justice is suing Chicago, Cook County and the state of Illinois over their limited cooperation with immigration authorities.
“We are preparing very thoroughly to make the case for the policies we have in Denver and why we think they are a common-sense approach to this challenge,” said Johnston, who wasn’t available to speak to The Denver Post late last week, in a recent interview with the podcast City Cast Denver.
He also said he was ready to deflect “the parade of horribles they love to paint” about the impacts of the city’s immigration policies.
In a January letter summoning Johnston, the congressional committee identified Denver as standing out in its “abject failure to comply with federal law” and pointed to comments the mayor made in November about potentially using the city’s police force to resist if Trump followed through on a threat to mobilize the military to help with immigration enforcement. Johnston later walked that comment back but said he wasn’t afraid of getting arrested for standing in the way.
Denver temporarily sheltered roughly 40,000 migrants that came to the city between late 2022 and 2024, costing the city tens of millions of dollars and resulting in budget cuts and temporarily reduced hours for recreation centers and Denver Motor Vehicle locations.
The oversight committee posted a movie-trailer-like video the week before the hearing that included a news clip of Chair James Comer saying the members would ask the mayors questions like, “Who is paying for this? Who has been in charge of this? What role does their local government play? Was the federal government involved?”
“If they’re going to continue to disobey the law, I think we should cut as much of their federal funding as we can cut,” he says in the video.
Johnston agreed to voluntary testimony
While Denver has never approved an explicit “sanctuary city” policy, the City Council did adopt a 2016 proclamation declaring Denver as “welcoming and inclusive of all people,” and the city has policies limiting cooperation with ICE. State law also prohibits local police from keeping people in jails longer because of ICE requests and bars ICE from making immigration arrests at or near Colorado courthouses.
Johnston has also said he doesn’t support any ICE operations at hospitals, churches or schools and has promised to pursue legal action if the federal government carries out immigration raids at those places.
In the letter, versions of which were also sent to the three other cities, Comer asked the city to turn over “documents and information related to the sanctuary policies of Denver.” Johnston responded by agreeing to voluntarily appear in front of the committee, and the city has begun to submit some of the requested documents.
On Wednesday, the hearing will begin with five-minute opening statements from each of the mayors, also including Boston’s Michelle Wu, Chicago’s Brandon Johnson and New York City’s Eric Adams. Then the 47 members of the committee will each have an opportunity to spend five minutes asking questions of any of them.
Boebert, who represents Colorado’s 4th Congressional District and sits on the committee, is likely to spend most of her allotted time on Johnston.
The two have sparred over social media posts in the past, with Boebert criticizing the city for the “Newcomers Playbook” it released detailing Denver’s response to the migrant crisis. Johnston fired back with a joke about the congresswoman’s now-infamous night at a performance of the musical “Beetlejuice” in Denver in 2023. She was removed from the theater for vaping, singing and “causing a disturbance.”
In a statement ahead of the Wednesday hearing, a spokesman for Boebert taunted Johnston over the city’s recent approval of a contract costing up to $2 million for a D.C.-based lawyer to help with the congressional inquiry.
Under the contract approved by the council in February, Dana Remus, who previously served as the White House counsel under President Joe Biden, will act as the lead attorney representing the city for a one-year contract period, including help with the ongoing investigation after the hearing.
“We’re going to find out if $2 million of taxpayer funds is enough to help Mayor Johnston defend his sanctuary city policies. The Congresswoman looks forward to seeing him on Wednesday,” Boebert spokesman Drew Sexton said.
Republican bill targets Colorado’s laws
Evans, a freshman member from Fort Lupton representing Colorado’s highly competitive 8th Congressional District, does not normally sit on the committee but was granted special permission to do so for the hearing.
Evans, a former police officer, recently introduced his first bill in Congress, which largely focuses on counteracting Colorado’s immigration laws. Boebert and the state’s two other Republican representatives, Jeff Hurd and Jeff Crank, are co-sponsoring it.
“Game on,” Evans wrote on social media about the hearing. “The days of Colorado Democrats getting a pass on their dangerous sanctuary state policies are over.”
Congressional testimony often offers an opportunity for members of Congress to ask pointed questions while also conveying their own messages about a given topic. It’s common for question askers to frequently interrupt and redirect the person testifying.
With limited time and three other mayors appearing Wednesday, it’s unclear how many questions will be directed specifically to Johnston.
Adams is likely to attract many of the inquiries after he signed an executive order to allow ICE agents to enter Rikers Island jail complex — a move out of step with the city’s immigrant-friendly policies. The announcement came soon after the Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to drop corruption charges against him.
The hearing, which is set to begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday Denver time, will be streamed on the committee’s website and on its YouTube channel.
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