March 05, 2025 12:09 PM UTC

Mayor Mike Goes to Washington for Republican Immigration Circus

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: After some six hours of testimony, today’s circus hearing has concluded. As Kyle Clark reports for 9News, not much happened:

Colorado Republicans were THIRSTY for viral moments from today’s hearing, but none of them (Boebert, Crank, and Evans) were able to come up with anything memorable. Congressman Jeff Hurd left the proceedings without speaking.

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Denver Mayor Mike Johnston is in Washington D.C. today to testify before Congressional Republicans who are (over) eager to produce new political theater on the issue of immigration.

Johnston is speaking in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, of which Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Weld County) is a member. But the best way to build a better circus is to add more clowns, so GOP leadership deputized the other three Republicans from Colorado’s delegation — Reps. Jeff “Bread Sandwich” Hurd, Jeff Crank, and Gabe Evans — to participate in the yelling. As Kyle Clark of 9News explains, this is all so Colorado Republicans can try to create their own viral video moment berating Johnston about so-called “sanctuary city” policies. Johnston is testifying alongside mayors from New York City, Chicago, and Boston.

The Denver Post is reporting live from today’s “hearing,” as are many other Colorado news outlets. Here’s how we got here, via The Post:

The majority-Republican committee has asked Johnston and the other mayors to testify about their “sanctuary city” policies as new President Donald Trump pursues mass deportations of people lacking proper legal status.

The hearing in Washington, D.C., could have major implications for Denver as Trump and congressional Republicans threaten to pull federal funding from cities that don’t cooperate with federal agents on such efforts. For Denver, that could mean losing millions of dollars for programs and projects.

When the Trump administration issued a sudden freeze on all federal grant spending earlier this year, a spokesman for the city said the city’s 2025 budget included $150 million in federal dollars for items such as infrastructure and small business support.

Denver city officials also are hoping to avoid a legal battle over the city’s policies, as has been the fate for other cities.

Boebert was the first of Colorado’s Republicans to berate Johnston, but as Clark reports for 9News, she wasn’t able to produce an interesting viral moment of her own.

Gabe Evans has yet to speak, but he’s been firing blanks on social media:

Evans’s argument is complete nonsense, as Chase Woodruff of Colorado Newsline noted:

In fact, Denver updates crime data in real time online, which Evans could have just Googled. Here’s another chart showing crime in Denver NOT rising, via the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS):

We’ll update this post as today’s circus continues.