Denver’s mayor has pledged to protect migrants in his sanctuary city from large-scale deportations, vowing to deploy local police and rally tens of thousands of residents to defend the city. He likened the potential standoff to a “Tiananmen Square moment.”
Democratic Mayor Mike Johnston recently explained his stance to Denverite, responding to President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to implement widespread deportations of undocumented immigrants across the nation. “More than us having [federal agents] stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there,” Johnston said.
“It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment … right?” he added, referring to the historic footage of a Chinese protester standing in front of a tank during the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Johnston suggested that local residents would not back down, particularly highlighting the resolve of community members. “You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”
Since December 2022, Denver has seen an influx of approximately 40,000 migrants, making it the U.S. city with the highest number of new arrivals per capita.
However, the wave of new arrivals has brought challenges, including increased crime linked to the Venezuelan prison gang Tren de Aragua. The gang has reportedly taken over apartment buildings in Denver and Aurora, causing significant unrest and committing violent acts.
Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky, a Republican, criticized Johnston’s plan. Speaking to the New York Post, she said, “If Mayor Johnston wants to stand at the Denver border with, I believe he said, Highland moms, or something to that effect, it will just further show how unproductive he is in one of the country’s so-called sanctuary cities, which discourage or prevent local authorities from cooperating with federal immigration agents in the case of migrants.”
Jurinsky also emphasized that while Aurora would not actively support the Trump administration’s efforts, the city would not obstruct them either. “Aurora does not plan to provide the Trump administration any assistance, as far as I know, but we will certainly not stand in the way of what the American people voted for,” she added.
Johnston’s comparison to Tiananmen Square drew sharp criticism. Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, told Fox Business that the analogy was inappropriate and misguided. “He is either profoundly ignorant of the history, or he did the false analogy on purpose,” Van Fleet said.
Elon Musk, recently appointed by Trump to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, weighed in on social media. Writing on X, he claimed Johnston’s stance revealed hostility toward his own residents, stating, “The mayor of Denver hates his constituents.”
Despite mounting pressure from a more aggressive federal administration, Johnston declared that Denver’s sanctuary city status would remain unchanged. “The short answer is, we won’t change that, because those are one of our core values. And we’re not going to sell out those values to anyone. We’re not going to be bullied into changing them,” he said. “I think we are gonna continue to be a welcoming, open, big-hearted city that’s gonna stand by our values.”
Tom Homan, Trump’s newly named “border czar,” outlined the administration’s plan for dealing with sanctuary cities. He told The Post that lawsuits and cuts to federal funding would be the first steps in pressuring these cities to comply. If those measures fail, he said, the administration would send Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to monitor local jails and apprehend undocumented migrants upon release.
Johnston remained firm in his decision not to involve local police in federal immigration arrests. “Absolutely not,” he said. “We won’t do it.”
{Matzav.com}