Denver mayor grilled over area’s Tren de Aragua problem as GOP lawmaker says policies to blame

Democrat Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is being blamed for giving violent, illegal gangs and cartels a “safe harbor” due to the city’s “weak immigration laws.” 

Johnston is one of four sanctuary city mayors who faced a high-stakes hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday to address the effects of those policies on their cities.

When Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., asked Johnston if he considers Denver a sanctuary city, he responded, “we don’t use that definition.”

“You don’t use the definition so you’re not a sanctuary?” Perry asked.

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“We call ourselves a welcoming city,” Johnston said. 

Perry then questioned what criteria they use to determine who they welcome into the city.

“Well, we’re welcoming everybody. We don’t keep folks––,” Johnston answered.

“So you’re welcoming criminals that you don’t have any idea of what their crime background is. And you’re good with that?” Perry questioned.

“No. We aggressively pursue violent criminals,” Johnston explained. 

One of the major issues plaguing the Mile High City, along with neighboring Aurora, is the rise in the presence of the violent Venezuelan immigrant gang Tren de Aragua (TdA).

“The illegal immigrant gang Tren de Aragua targeted Denver to be their American HQ because of weak immigration laws,” Republican Colorado Rep. Gabe Evans told Fox News Digital. 

Evans explained that because of sanctuary state policies, public safety budgets have been cut to afford “immigrant influx,” among other issues.

“Local hospitals have taken a hit, Denver schools are overwhelmed, fentanyl and tusi are flooding into Colorado communities – Colorado is the third most dangerous state,” Evans shared.

“As a police officer for over a decade in the metro area, I saw firsthand what was contributing to these problems and a significant percentage of the blame lays on sanctuary city and state policies that allow violent transnational criminal organizations and cartels to come into our community and find safe harbor.”

Evans added that a TdA gang member was also recently released from custody because of Colorado’s sanctuary policies.

On Wednesday, the City of Denver released a video showing an ICE agent chasing down and arresting a TdA gang member who had just been released from jail. 

Due to sanctuary city policies, he was released and fled upon seeing ICE agents. ICE said he assaulted an agent while being taken into custody.

Johnston reportedly reached out to ICE and is asking to sit down with them to discuss “best procedures” moving forward.

Last April, Johnston announced $45 million in funding for programs to help deal with the skyrocketing number of migrant arrivals Denver was facing, resulting in over $8 million in budget cuts for the police department. 

The $45.9 million package, which Johnston said was to fully fund programs for “newcomers” for 2024 and avoid worst-case scenarios projected by the city, was in addition to $44 million in spending already secured for the program through previous budget moves. 

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A spokesperson for Johnston previously rejected descriptions of the cuts as “defunding” the police and the 1.9% cut was less than the average of 2.5% cuts to all city agencies. The cuts would have no impact on public services and result in no officers being taken off the streets, the spokesperson said.

“The City of Denver’s adjustment to the Denver Police Department’s budget was carefully crafted with safety leaders and Mayor Johnston to ensure there would be no impact to the department’s public services. And no officers will be taken off the streets,” spokesperson Jordan Fuja said. 

In January, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) arrested roughly 50 illegal immigrants, many of whom had ties to TdA, which the Trump administration now classifies as a foreign terrorist organization.

Johnston previously pledged to resist Trump’s immigration policies and emphasized Denver’s commitment to protecting illegal migrants and maintaining its sanctuary city status, saying it would not be “bullied.”

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“We’re not going to sell out those values to anyone,” Johnston told the Denverite in a previous interview. “We’re not going to be bullied into changing them.”

When asked if he was prepared to go to jail for standing in the way of policies enacted by the administration, Johnston said he was not “afraid of that.”

“Yeah, I’m not afraid of that, and I’m also not seeking that,” Johnston told the Denverite. “I think the goal is we want to be able to negotiate with reasonable people [on] how to solve hard problems.”

A former assistant director of the FBI told Fox News Digital that Johnston, and the other three mayors who spoke before Congress – New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu – are “not doing their cities any favors whatsoever.”

“Cartels are powerful and they infiltrate into any city where there’s lax law enforcement. The Trump law enforcement will get after the cartels in a big way, but they have a 50-year head start and, particularly over the last four years have become polycriminal organizations, branching out into smuggling people, extortion, fraud schemes and many other activities that are destructive to society in general,” Chris Swecker said. 

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Swecker added that on top of the trouble with cartels and drugs, all four mayors are also hiding their true crime statistics. 

“The departments game the system and they are not participating in the FBI’s new crime stat capture system called National Incident-Based Reporting System. NIBRS captures more crime stats in a more granular way. Many of the blue cities don’t want that and claim that they don’t have the technology to implement the system. As a result, crime reporting is grossly understated,” Swecker said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Denver police union and Johnston’s office for comment. 

Fox News’ Bill Melugin, Ashley Papa, Adam Shaw, Stephen Sorace, and Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.