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A sanctuary city mayor’s tough guy act of obstructing the federal government brought a careful walk back that continued to misrepresent his city’s response to the border crisis.

First-term Denver, Colorado Mayor Mike Johnston (D) certainly wasn’t responsible for the Mile High City’s history of disregarding federal law enforcement, but he hadn’t tempered it either. However, Friday, after signaling support for a “Tiananmen Square moment” pitting local police against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he’d instead insisted that was an “image” he hoped “we can avoid.”

During a sit down interview with 9NEWS reported Marc Sallinger, the mayor agreed with a question on regret about asserting he’d deploy the Denver Police Department to prevent mass deportations under the second administration of President Donald Trump.

“Would I have taken it back if I could? Yes, I probably wouldn’t have used that image. That’s an image I hope we can avoid. What I was trying to say is this is an outcome I hope we can avoid in this country. I think none of us want that,” insisted Johnston.

As had been reported, the mayor had said during an interview with Denverite, “More than us having DPD stationed at the county line to keep them out, you would have 50,000 Denverites there.”

“It’s like the Tiananmen Square moment with the rose and the gun, right?” he posited, suggesting citizens would also buck the law to safeguard illegal aliens from deportation. “You’d have every one of those Highland moms who came out for the migrants. And you do not want to mess with them.”

On the subject, Sallinger had asked, “Would you be willing to go out and protest these things?”

“I would if I believed that our residents are having their rights violated — I think things are happening that are illegal or immoral or un-American in our city,” responded Johnston, conflating activism with his responsibilities as city executive. “I would certainly protest it, and I would expect other residents would do the same.”

That attitude had been shared by other Democratic leaders like Boston Mayor Michelle Wu who’d readily faced a reality check from border czar designee Tom Homan who referred to her as “not very smart.”

“So either she helps us or she gets the hell out of the way because we’re going to do it,” he’d told Newsmax host Greg Kelly of her defiant position against cooperating on deportations. “There’s a clear line here, and they can’t cross that line. I will suggest she reads Title 8, United States Code 1324 III, which says you can’t harbor or conceal an illegal alien from federal law enforcement officers.”

Sallinger brought up that point when he questioned Johnston, “Trump’s new border czar, Tom Homan, has said that he is willing to arrest leaders like yourself for standing in the way of these policies that they want to enact. Would you be willing to go to jail for these things?”

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

He also suggested, “I think our line is clear. We think if you are a violent criminal that is committing serious crimes like murder or rape in Denver, you should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and you should be deported. We support that, we have always supported that, we’ll continue supporting, that we’ve worked with previous administrations on that we will do it going forward.”

Of course, Johnston’s statements readily contradicted reporting from the Denver Gazette that detailed how during the Biden-Harris administration more than 22,000 aliens that ICE had sought to deport were released from jail instead of held per detainer requests.

“Each declined detainer represents a deportable criminal alien who was released back into the community and given the opportunity to prey on more victims,” said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies.

In response to Johnston’s continued defense of illegal aliens, responses on social media suggested there would be room enough for him to build some real personal relationship with criminal foreign nationals in detention cells were he to be charged with violating any laws.

Kevin Haggerty
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