Sanctuary city Democrats resist Trump deportation plan at their peril
President-elect Donald Trump is offering to bail out failing Democrat governors and mayors by deporting migrants who are in the country illegally. Stupidly, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom, among others, are refusing his help.
Cities like Denver and states like California are spending fortunes caring for the estimated ten million people who have entered the U.S. illegally on Joe Biden’s watch. Tax hikes and cuts to essential services are balancing their swollen budgets. A majority of the country, including 25% of Democrats, favors mass deportations. But leftist leaders promise to resist the effort; they are not reading the room.
A new study shows Denver has spent $356 million so far to house and feed migrants. Next, eight percent of its 2025 budget will go to caring for the 45,000 undocumented immigrants in that city. No wonder Mayor Johnston has proposed spending cuts for his city’s police and fire departments.
SANCTUARY CITY DENVER SPENDING A WHOPPING $356 MILLION ON MIGRANTS: STUDY
Johnston greeted Trump’s re-election with a bold promise to rally his city’s cops – and citizens -- to bodily block ICE deportation efforts. "More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there," Mayor Mike boasted in an interview. "It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right? You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them."
This is the same Mike Johnston who is dealing with a crime surge in his city and who, weeks earlier, had to admit that the brutal Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua does indeed have a presence in metropolitan Denver, but that the threat it poses is "very small."
Johnston is waging a war of words against incoming ICE Director Tom Homan, who has vowed to put the Sanctuary City mayor in jail if he gets in the way of his agency’s deportation efforts. The mayor has since walked back some of his bravura, now agreeing that hardened felons should of course be tossed from the U.S. and that he will encourage protests against ICE, rather than confrontation.
Maybe Johnston is responding to polls showing his approval rating slipping as Denver struggles with sky-high housing costs driven partly, as in many blue cities, by a surge in migrants. On Election Day, Denverites soundly rejected a 0.5% sales tax hike meant to pay for more affordable housing. Johnston had personally campaigned for the measure; voters, already facing one of the highest sales taxes in the U.S., said no.
California, home to almost two million unauthorized immigrants, became the nation’s first "sanctuary state" during President-elect Trump’s first term. In 2022, the state spent $22.8 billion on benefits and services provided illegal aliens. Notwithstanding a huge state budget deficit and approval ratings that are underwater by 22 points, Governor Newsom is resolute: he will resist the incoming president. He has convened a special session of the state’s legislature to "Trump-proof" the Golden State by, among other priorities, "protecting" its immigrant population.
Other blue state governors, including Massachusetts’ Maura Healey and Illinois’ Jay Pritzker, are also threatening to block Trump’s efforts to deport undocumented immigrants. And, other Democrat mayors like Michelle Wu in Boston, and Brandon Johnson in Chicago, are vowing resistance as well.
DEM GOVERNOR THREATENS TO USE 'EVERY TOOL' TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST TRUMP-ERA DEPORTATIONS
What do these "leaders" have in common? Their cities and states are losing residents, local crime is increasing and the costs of housing and caring for illegal migrants are clobbering their budgets. Not surprisingly, their approval ratings are sinking and… Trump gained ground this year in every single one of their jurisdictions.
Democratic officials are ignoring their voters, a growing number of whom support Trump’s policies. They also ignore that Tom Homan, incoming ICE chief, has made it clear the new White House will prioritize deporting the more than "1.5 million convicted criminal aliens in this country with orders for removal." The hyperventilating by leftist officials about children being dragged from classrooms or mothers being separated from their babies is nonsense; just booting the criminals will keep ICE busy… and voters happy.
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These Democrat officials should take a hard look at the fate of San Francisco Mayor London Breed, dumped last month by residents of that far-left city who were fed up with sky-high crime, filthy homeless encampments and soaring taxes. Eventually, voters rally around common sense.
Challenging Trump, Pritzker recently announced "You come for my people, you come through me," may puff up the governor’s feathers for a news cycle or two, but the Hyatt Hotels heir should focus on his state’s ten consecutive years of losing residents, one of the worst records in the nation. Last year, 75% of Illinois’ communities saw a drop in population; no wonder Democrats’ margin of victory in the recent election narrowed significantly over 2020.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has also seen her state lose population and her approval ratings drop amidst voter anger over housing affordability and immigration. Notwithstanding what critics call a "migrant crisis" facing the Bay State, which is costing more than $1 billion annually, Healey has insisted that Massachusetts state police would 'absolutely not' help the Trump administration's planned deportations.
That resolution comes despite the recent arrests of two illegal migrants who have been charged with raping children in Massachusetts. One of the migrants, from Guatemala, had been arrested earlier on multiple rape charges but was released by local law enforcement who apparently ignored an ICE request to detain him. The other also had a detainer in place.
As in Illinois and Colorado, Trump gained ground in Massachusetts. Kamala Harris easily won the state, but by a lesser margin than in 2020.
If Democrat officials continue to put migrants in the country illegally – and especially criminals – ahead of their own citizens, they may get booted themselves. Donald Trump is offering them a lifeline; they should grab it.