Denver, Colorado’s big Democrat-controlled sanctuary city, has announced that it cut its police department budget by more than $8 million to pay for a massive $45 million in funding for illegal immigrant-related programs as more and more illegal immigrants pour into the sanctuary city. That new funding comes in addition to more than $44 million previously announced funding for the program.
As background, according to Fox News Digital, Denver’s spending on the migration situation has skyrocketed in the past months, flying from around $2 million in August of 2023 to $15 million in December of 2023. Further, the city was running a high of 5,000 migrant shelters in January of 2024, when that aspect of the crisis peaked, for now.
In any case, Mayor Johnston of Denver announced the budget cuts for cops and increase in budget for migrant response, saying that the city had developed a “sustainable plan” for the “newcomers.” He said, “After more than a year of facing this crisis together, Denver finally has a sustainable plan for treating our newcomers with dignity while avoiding the worst cuts to city services.”
That “sustainable” plan involves budget cuts across the Denver government, including a 10% cut to the mayor’s office’s budget, though Mayor Johnston claimed that there would not be layoffs or furloughs of city employees. The police force was hard-hit by those cuts, losing just under 2% of its budget, $8.4 million, $5 million of which will come from limiting new hires.
Speaking on behalf of Mayor Johnston, a spokesperson from his office pushed back on the claim that the police budget is being defunded, arguing that there will still be 167 new recruits in 2024 and that the police force’s budget was cut by less than most agencies in the city. Further, that spokesperson argued that there will not be any officers being taken off the streets.
That spokesperson said, in defense of the police budget cuts and their effects, “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.”
Continuing, that spokesperson explained that the budget was not defunded so much as adjusted to shift the timing of hires and purchases, saying, “To say that Denver is ‘defunding the police’ is a willful mischaracterization of the budget adjustments, which actually just delays the purchase of new furniture and shifts the funding source for one cadet class.”
Then, the spokesperson argued that the police force will still be expanded to ensure that the residents of the sanctuary city remain safe, saying, “In fact, Mayor Johnston has invested millions to add 167 new police recruits to our force in 2024 and will continue to invest in public safety to ensure every Denverite is safe in their city.”
Denver’s new budget and attempt to deal with the migrant situation comes as other Colorado communities push back on the effects of the city’s sanctuary policies, passing ordinances that limit its ability to pass of migrants on them. Among those communities was Douglas County, which passed an ordinance to limit the bussing of migrants into it. Watch Douglas County Commissioner George Teal speak to Fox News about that ordinance here:
Featured image credit: By CBdenver – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70789055
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