Denver cuts public safety spending to pay for illegal immigrant crisis – Law Officer

DENVER – The city of Denver announced budget cuts to public safety departments this week so it can allocate more funding for illegal immigrants who have overwhelmed Colorado’s capital, which is a “sanctuary city.”

On Wednesday, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, a Democrat, announced the cuts as a way to avoid “the worst-case budget cut scenarios.” The “Newcomer Program Strategy” is a nearly $90 million budget plan that funds aid and sheltering for illegal immigrants through the rest of 2024, KDVR reported.

In order to fund the illegal immigrant plan, the Democrat-run city will cut police spending by $8.4 million and fire department spending by $2.5 million, while the Sheriff’s Department will be hit with a 2.2% reduction, according to 9 News.

“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,” Johnston said. “So many times we were told that we couldn’t be compassionate while still being fiscally responsible. Today is proof that our hardest challenges are still solvable, and that together we are the ones who will solve them.”

Denver, like other sanctuary cities receiving busloads of illegal immigrants, scrambled earlier this year to find a way to shelter an estimated 40,000 migrants who had arrived in the city over the course of a few months, the Daily Wire reported.

The mayor added that the city would need to come up with $100 million to pay for the influx of migrants.