Mayors of "sanctuary cities" blame immigration crisis on federal policy, act wary of ICE warrants
By Steven Richards justthenews.com 3-6-25
The mayors — all Democrats — acknowledge Republicans' criticism of the Biden administration and now say that the large influx of legal and illegal immigrants to their cities was the result of federal policy choices under the Biden administration.
At a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, mayors from four of America’s major sanctuary cities — all located in solidly blue states — testified that the federal government caused the immigration crisis, forcing them to expand services, and sparred with Republicans over cooperation with immigration enforcement operations.
Mayor of New York City Eric Adams, Mayor of Denver Mike Johnston, Mayor of Boston Michelle Wu, and Mayor of Chicago Brandon Johnson appeared before the committee to defend their cities’ immigration policies. They collectively claimed that they continue to cooperate with “criminal warrants” from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Just the News reported.
But, the Democratic mayors also acknowledged what Republicans had been criticizing the Biden administration for the last four years, specifically, that the large influx of legal and illegal immigrants to their cities was the result of federal policy choices.
Severity and urgency
“When I was sworn into office 20 months ago, buses with immigrants were arriving in Denver with little-to-no notice or coordination. At the peak of the crisis, we saw ten-to-eleven buses per day, dropping off as many as 300 people, mostly women and children, on the streets of Denver in 10-degree weather with only sandals and a t-shirt, leaving them in danger of freezing to death,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston told lawmakers.
“All told, 42,000 people arrived over 18 months—the largest per capita influx of any city in America,” he said.
Mike Johnston, the Mayor of Denver, expressed that the severity and urgency of the immigration crisis that unfolded over the last four years required his city to take action to take care of migrants who were dumped there by providing shelter and other services.
“Denver faced the fundamental question: what our community would do with a mom and two kids dropped on the streets of our city with no warm clothes, no food, and no place to stay, while maintaining public safety in the city,” he said. “This was not a question of immigration reform; it was a question of what was the best course forward for the people of Denver and their safety and security.”
New York City's Mayor Adams blamed federal immigration policy for the influx of illegal immigrants, saying that his city was forced to respond to the crisis and that his hands were tied by federal, state and local laws.
“Federal law did not allow me to stop buses from entering New York City. State law required me to provide all in our city with housing and meals, and to educate children. City law makes it unlawful to collaborate with ICE for civil enforcement,” Adams told the committee.
Biden's 340% increase in immigrants granted interim legal status
The scope of the immigration crisis under the Biden administration was staggering.
Data from Customs and Border Protection show that from 2021 to 2023 the number of “gotaways” at the border exploded by more than 340% from where it was at the highest point of the Trump administration. Border Patrol also recorded over 10 million encounters since the beginning of Biden’s term.
The Biden administration also granted historic increases in Temporary Protected Status designations, leading to a 340% surge of foreign nationals protected from deportation and granted interim legal status in the United States. These designees included those who had immigrated to the country illegally.
But, despite the mayors’ repeated insistence that they did—and would continue to—comply with all federal laws, Trump administration border czar Tom Homan expressed frustrations about local jurisdictions failing to collaborate with ICE enforcement operations.
Homan: "The immigrant community is behind me”
In particular, he has criticized sanctuary city mayors for their failures to hold aliens in detention after ICE issues administrative warrants, which start the deportation process. He blames the cities for forcing ICE to conduct enforcement operations in neighborhoods since they will not allow agents into local prisons.“More agents in jail means fewer agents in your neighborhoods,” Homan said.
“You have forced me into the neighborhoods to find these people. It’s safer for the community, and safer for the agents to arrest the bad guy in the jail. And I think the immigrant community is behind me.”
However, local jurisdictions sometimes draw a distinction, often claiming that the administrative warrants do not bind a local law enforcement to act and only reflect the opinion of an ICE agent who issued it, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.
Rep. Jim Jordan raised the case of an illegal alien and Venezuelan gang member, Abraham Gonzalez, who assaulted the ICE agents who attempted to take him into custody after he was released from a Denver prison. Jordan, in a tense exchange at the hearing with Mayor Johnston, slammed the city for failing to provide federal immigration officials a more than one-hour notice that Gonzalez was being released.
"Three hundred and forty-five days you had him in custody, and ICE said, ‘Hey can you give us 48 hours heads up?' You gave them one-hour notice,” Jordan said. "Guess what happened in that parking lot … one of the ICE officers got assaulted, didn’t he? They had to tase the guy, didn’t they?” the lawmaker asked.
Jordan blamed the violence on the city’s sanctuary policy, under which officials released Gonzalez to the “streets,” instead of into ICE custody. “An officer got assaulted because your policy, which says, ‘We’re going to release him to — in your words, not mine — to the streets.’ They have to arrest him in the parking lot. They bring six officers when they could have just had one or two just come in your facility, into your jail, and take the guy there. But you won’t do it that way,” the lawmaker said.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer confronted Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson about a separate case where a violent illegal immigrant, arrested in connection with a murder and a suspected member of a foreign gang, was released. The alien, associated with the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, was released in Chicago even though police believed they had sufficient cause to keep him in custody as a suspect in a murder, Fox News reported. The U.S. Department of State announced on February 20 that the gang was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
City cooperation with ICE turns on criminal warrant
“Will you turn the criminal over to ICE?” Comer asked.
“With a criminal warrant from the federal government our local law enforcement repeatedly collaborates with federal agents,” Johnson replied.
Chicago’s “Welcoming City Ordinance” prevents local law enforcement and city employees from becoming involved in civil immigration enforcement or assisting federal authorities in such operations.
“So you’re saying publicly today that you will turn that alien over to ICE in a safe place, like a jail, instead of turning them out on the street and saying ‘here you go, ICE, good luck.’ You will turn them over to ICE?” Comer asked.
“With a criminal warrant, as we have done for 40 years,“ Johnson reiterated.
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